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: ō(u̯)i̯-om 'egg, ovum'
Semantic Field(s): Egg
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | ||||
| Old Irish: | og | n | egg | CDC |
| Irish: | ugh | n | egg | CDC |
| Gaelic: | ubh | n | egg | CDC |
| Welsh: | wy | n | egg | CDC |
| English | ||||
| Old English: | æ(i)g | n.neut | egg | ASD |
| Middle English: | cokeney | n | lit. cock's egg | W7 |
| egge, ey(e) | n | egg | CDC | |
| English: | caviar | n | roe of sturgeon/large fish | AHD |
| cockney | n | spoiled child; milksop, effiminate male | AHD/W7 | |
| egg | n | hard-shelled reproductive body | AHD/W7 | |
| o(o)- | pfx | egg, ovum | AHD/W7 | |
| oolemma | n | thick solid membrane around mammalian ovum | AHD | |
| oval | adj | egg-shaped | AHD/W7 | |
| ovary | n | female reproductive organ | AHD/W7 | |
| ovate | adj | oval | AHD | |
| ov(i)- | pfx | egg, ovum | AHD | |
| ovolo | n | rounded convex molding | AHD/W7 | |
| ovule | n | outgrowth of ovary of seed plant | AHD/W7 | |
| ovum | n | egg, macrogamete, female gamete | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Dutch: | ei | n | egg | CDC |
| Middle Low German: | ei(g) | n | egg | CDC |
| Old High German: | ei | n.neut | egg | ASD |
| Middle High German: | ei | n.neut | egg | ASD |
| German: | Ei | n.neut | egg | ASD |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | egg | n.neut | egg | LRC |
| Danish: | æg | n.neut | egg | CDC |
| Swedish: | ägg | n.neut | egg | ASD |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | *addjis | n | egg | CDC |
| Crimean Gothic: | ada | n | egg | CDC |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | ōvum, ōvī | n.neut | egg, ovum | ELD |
| Late Latin: | ovalis | adj | re: egg | W7 |
| Medieval Latin: | ovalis | adj | oval | W7 |
| New Latin: | ovarium | n.neut | ovary | W7 |
| ovulum | n.neut | ovule | W7 | |
| Portuguese: | ôvo | n | egg, ovum | CDC |
| Spanish: | huevo | n | egg, ovum | CDC |
| Old French: | oef | n | egg, ovum | CDC |
| French: | œuf | n | egg, ovum | TLL |
| Provençal: | (u)ov | n | egg, ovum | CDC |
| Italian: | uovo, òvo(lo) | n.masc | egg, ovum | W7 |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Homeric Greek: | οἰωνός | n.masc | large bird, bird of prey | LRC |
| Greek: | ᾠόν | n.neut | egg, ovum | LS |
| Iranian | ||||
| Middle Persian: | khāyak | n | egg, caviar | AHD |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| neut | = | neuter (gender) |
| pfx | = | prefix |
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) |
| ELD | = | Charlton T. Lewis: An Elementary Latin Dictionary (1999) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| LS | = | Liddell and Scott: Greek-English Lexicon, 7th-9th ed's (1882-1940), rev. |
| TLL | = | Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
