Indo-European Lexicon
PIE Etymon and IE Reflexes
Below we display: a Proto-Indo-European (PIE) etymon adapted from Pokorny, with our own English gloss; our Semantic Field assignment(s) for the etymon, linked to information about the field(s); an optional Comment; and Reflexes (derived words) in various Indo-European languages, organized by family/group in west-to-east order where Germanic is split into West/North/East families and English, our language of primary emphasis, is artificially separated from West Germanic. IE Reflexes appear most often as single words with any optional letter(s) enclosed in parentheses; but alternative full spellings are separated by '/' and "principal parts" appear in a standard order (e.g. masculine, feminine, and neuter forms) separated by commas.
Reflexes are annotated with: Part-of-Speech and/or other Grammatical feature(s); a short Gloss which, especially for modern English reflexes, may be confined to the oldest sense; and some Source citation(s) with 'LRC' always understood as editor. Keys to PoS/Gram feature abbreviations and Source codes appear below the reflexes; at the end are links to the previous/next etyma [in Pokorny's alphabetic order] that have reflexes.
All reflex pages are currently under active construction; as time goes on, corrections may be made and/or more etyma & reflexes may be added.
Pokorny Etymon: nek̑- 'death, dying, necrosis; corpse'
Semantic Field(s): to Die; Dead; Death, Corpse, Body
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Middle English: | innocent | adj | innocent | W7 |
| nigromancie | n | necromancy, magic | W7 | |
| nocent | adj | nocent, guilty, criminal | W7 | |
| nusaunce | n | nuisance | W7 | |
| English: | innocent | adj | blameless, free from sin/guilt | AHD/W7 |
| innocuous | adj | harmless, causing no injury | AHD/W7 | |
| internecine | adj | deadly, marked by slaughter | AHD/W7 | |
| necr(o)- | pfx | dead, death | AHD/W7 | |
| Necromancer | prop.n | Sauron in Tolkien: The Hobbit | LRC | |
| necromancy | n | conjuration of/divination re: dead spirits | AHD/W7 | |
| necrosis | n | (localized) tissue death | AHD/W7 | |
| nectar | n | drink of Greek/Roman gods | AHD/W7 | |
| nectarine | n | aromatic peach with smooth waxy skin | AHD | |
| nocent | adj | harmful | AHD/W7 | |
| nocuous | adj | harmful, likely to cause injury | AHD/W7 | |
| noxious | adj | harmful, destructive | AHD/W7 | |
| nuisance | n | annoyance, injury | AHD/W7 | |
| obnoxious | adj | susceptible to hurtful influence | AHD/W7 | |
| pernicious | adj | deadly, highly destructive/injurious | AHD/W7 | |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | innocens, innocentis | adj | innocent, having no harmful intent | W7 |
| innocuus | adj | harmless | W7 | |
| internecinus | adj | leading to massacre | W7 | |
| interneco, internecāre | vb | to kill, destroy | W7 | |
| necō, necāre | vb | to kill | W7 | |
| nectar | n.neut | nectar | W7 | |
| nex, necis | n.fem | violent death | W7 | |
| nocens, nocentis | adj | wicked | W7 | |
| noceo, nocēre | vb | to harm | W7 | |
| nocuus | adj | hurtful | W7 | |
| noxa | n.fem | harm | W7 | |
| noxius | adj | harmful | W7 | |
| obnoxius | adj | liable, guilty | W7 | |
| pernicies | n.fem | destruction | W7 | |
| perniciosus | adj | dangerous, treacherous | W7 | |
| Late Latin: | necromantia | n.fem | necromancy | W7 |
| necrosis | n.fem | death of living tissue | W7 | |
| Medieval Latin: | nigromantia | n.fem | necromancy | W7 |
| Old French: | nuisir | vb | to harm | W7 |
| Anglo-French: | nusaunce | n.fem | nuisance | W7 |
| Middle French: | innocent | adj | innocent | W7 |
| nigromancie | n.fem | necromancy | W7 | |
| French: | pernicieux | adj | rampant, subtle, treacherous | W7 |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Greek: | νεκρός | n.masc | corpse | LRC |
| nekrow | vb | to make dead | W7 | |
| nekrōsis | n.fem | necrosis | W7 | |
| nektar | n.neut | nectar | W7 | |
| Late Greek: | nekromanteia | n.fem | necromancy | W7 |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| neut | = | neuter (gender) |
| pfx | = | prefix |
| prop | = | proper |
| vb | = | verb |
Key to information Source codes (always with 'LRC' as editor):
| Code | Citation | |
|---|---|---|
| AHD | = | Calvert Watkins: The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots, 2nd ed. (2000) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
