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: n̥dhos, n̥dheri 'under'
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | under | prep | under, among, before, during | ASD/W7 |
| underneoþan | adv/prep | underneath | ASD/W7 | |
| Middle English: | inferior | adj | inferior | W7 |
| infernal | adj | infernal | W7 | |
| under | prep | under | W7 | |
| undernethe | prep/adv | underneath | W7 | |
| English: | inferior | adj | lower, situated below | AHD/W7 |
| infernal | adj | re: nether world of dead | AHD/W7 | |
| inferno | n | place/state resembling/suggesting hell | AHD/W7 | |
| infra- | pfx | below | AHD/W7 | |
| U-boat | prop.n | Austro-Hungarian/German submarine | LRC | |
| under | adv/prep | in(to) position below/beneath something | AHD/W7 | |
| Underharrow | prop.n | Rohan village in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings | LRC | |
| Underhill | prop.n | Hobbiton family in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings | LRC | |
| underneath | prep | directly below, close beneath | AHD/W7 | |
| Undertowers | prop.n | Shire town in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings | LRC | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | under | prep/adv | under | ASD |
| Dutch: | onder | prep | under | TLL |
| Old Saxon: | undar | prep/adv | under | ASD |
| Old High German: | untar | prep/adv | under | W7 |
| German: | U-boot | n.neut | U-boat | W7 |
| unter | prep | under | LRC | |
| Unterseeboot | n.neut | submarine, lit. undersea boat | W7 | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Icelandic: | undir | prep/adv | under | ASD |
| Danish: | under | prep | in, during, under | TLL |
| Swedish: | under | prep | in, during, under | TLL |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | undar | prep/adv | under | ASD |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | inferior | adj.comp | inferior, less good | W7 |
| inferus, inferi | adj/n.neut | low, nether; lower part | LRC | |
| infrā | adv/prep | below, under | W7 | |
| Late Latin: | infernalis | adj | infernal | W7 |
| infernus | adj | infernal, of hell, under the earth | W7 | |
| Old French: | infernal | adj | infernal, of hell | W7 |
| Italian: | fra | prep | in | TLL |
| infèrno | n.masc | hell, horror, inferno | W7 | |
| Indic | ||||
| Sanskrit: | adha | prep | under, below | W7 |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| adv | = | adverb(ial) |
| comp | = | comparative |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| neut | = | neuter (gender) |
| pfx | = | prefix |
| prep | = | preposition |
| prop | = | proper |
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) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| TLL | = | Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
