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'

Semantic Field(s): Deep, Low

 

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)

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