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: neku̯-(t-), noku̯-t-s 'night'
Semantic Field(s): Night
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | niht, næht, næct, neht, nyht | n.fem | night | ASD |
| niht-scū(w)a | n.masc | night's cover | ASD | |
| niht-waco | n.fem | night-watch | LRC | |
| Middle English: | equinox | n | equinox | W7 |
| fourtenight | n | fortnight | W7 | |
| night | n | night | W7 | |
| nocturne | n | nocturn | W7 | |
| English: | denigrate | vb.trans | to defame, cast aspersions on | AHD/W7 |
| equinox | n | when day and night are equally long | AHD/W7 | |
| fortnight | n | period of 2 weeks, lit. 14 nights | AHD/W7 | |
| Kristallnacht | prop.n | Night of Broken Glass: Nazi anti-Jewish pogrom | AHD | |
| negro | n.arch | person of black ethnicity | AHD | |
| niello | n | deep black metal alloy: sulfur with silver/copper/lead | AHD/W7 | |
| nigella | n | (wild) fennel | AHD | |
| night | n | dusk-to-dawn period when no sunlight is visible | AHD/W7 | |
| nightmare | n | incubus, evil spirit that oppresses during sleep | AHD/CDC | |
| nigrescence | n | process of becoming dark/black | AHD/W7 | |
| nigrescent | adj | blackish | W7 | |
| nigrosine | n | azine dyes related to indulines | AHD/W7 | |
| noct(i)- | pfx | night | AHD | |
| nocto- | pfx | night | W7 | |
| noctuid | n | night-flying moth | AHD | |
| noctule | n | reddish-brown insectivorous bat | AHD | |
| nocturn | n | principal division of office of matins | AHD/W7 | |
| nocturnal | adj | re: night | AHD/W7 | |
| nyctalopia | n | night blindness | AHD | |
| nyctitropism | n | tendency of plant leaves to change position at nightfall | AHD | |
| nyctophobia | n | fear of night/darkness | AHD | |
| streptonigrin | n | highly toxic antibiotic for tumors | AHD | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | nacht | n | night | ASD |
| Dutch: | nacht | n | night | LRC |
| Old Saxon: | naht | n | night | ASD |
| Old High German: | naht | n | night | W7 |
| German: | Kristallnacht | prop.n.fem | Kristallnacht, lit. crystal night | AHD |
| Nacht | n.fem | night | LRC | |
| Nachtmahr | n.masc | nightmare | IEW | |
| Weihnachten | n.neut | Christmas, lit. holy nights | LRC | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | nótt | n.fem | night | LRC |
| Icelandic: | nātt, nōtt | n | night | ASD |
| Danish: | nat | n | night | LRC |
| Swedish: | natt | n | night | LRC |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | nahts | n.wk.fem | night | LRC |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | aequinoctium | n.neut | equinox | W7 |
| denigro, denigrare, denigravi, denigratus | vb | to denigrate | W7 | |
| nigellus | adj | blackish | W7 | |
| niger | adj | black | W7 | |
| nigro, nigrare | vb | to blacken | W7 | |
| nocturnus | adj | of the night | W7 | |
| nox, noctis | n.fem | night | LRC | |
| Late Latin: | nocturnalis | adj | of the night | W7 |
| Medieval Latin: | equinoxium | n.neut | equinox | W7 |
| Portuguese: | negro | adj | black | AHD/TLL |
| noite | n | night | TLL | |
| Spanish: | negro | adj | black | AHD/TLL |
| noche | n | night | TLL | |
| Middle French: | equinoxe | n.fem | equinox | W7 |
| nocturne | adj | of the night | W7 | |
| French: | noir | adj | black | AHD/TLL |
| nuit | n | night | TLL | |
| Italian: | nero | adj | black | AHD/TLL |
| nièllo | n.masc | niello, inlaid enamelwork | CID/W7 | |
| notte | n | night | TLL | |
| Baltic | ||||
| Lithuanian: | naktìs | n.fem | night | LRC |
| Latvian: | nakts | n.fem | night | LRC |
| Slavic | ||||
| Old Church Slavonic: | noštь | n.fem | night | LRC |
| noštьnъ | adj | nocturnal | LRC | |
| Albanian | ||||
| Albanian: | natë | n.fem | night | IEW |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Greek: | νύκτωρ | adv | by night | LRC |
| νύξ, νύκτος | n.fem | night | LRC | |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| adv | = | adverb(ial) |
| arch | = | archaic |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| neut | = | neuter (gender) |
| pfx | = | prefix |
| prop | = | proper |
| trans | = | transitive |
| vb | = | verb |
| wk | = | weak (inflection) |
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) |
| ASD | = | Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller: An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (1898) |
| CDC | = | W.D. Whitney and B.E. Smith: The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (1889-1911) |
| CID | = | Cassell's Italian Dictionary (1958) |
| IEW | = | Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| TLL | = | Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
