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: 4. perk̑-, prek̑-, pr̥k̑- 'to request, ask/pray for'
Semantic Field(s): to Ask, Request
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | ||||
| Middle Welsh: | arch | n | request | RPN |
| arch-af | vb.3.sg | to ask | RPN | |
| English | ||||
| Old English: | freht | n | divination | RPN |
| frignan, fricgean, fricg(g)an | vb.str | to ask, inquire, question | ASD/RPN | |
| friht | n | divination | RPN | |
| gefrīnan, gefrān, gefrūnon, gefrūnen | vb.str.III | to learn, hear of | LRC | |
| Middle English: | prayen | vb | to pray | W7 |
| prayer | n | prayer | W7 | |
| English: | deprecate | vb.trans | to express disapproval of | AHD/W7 |
| expostulate | vb | to examine, discuss | AHD/W7 | |
| imprecate | vb | to invoke | AHD/W7 | |
| postulate | n | hypothesis advanced as essential premise/presupposition | AHD/W7 | |
| postulate | vb.trans | to claim, demand | AHD/W7 | |
| pray | vb | to implore, entreat | AHD/W7 | |
| prayer | n | approach to deity via word/thought | AHD/W7 | |
| precarious | adj | depending on will/pleasure of another | AHD/W7 | |
| prie-dieu | n | prayer-desk (with bookshelf/kneeling bench) | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | fregia | vb | to ask, inquire | ASD |
| Frisian: | freegjen | vb | to ask, inquire | ASD |
| Dutch: | vragen | vb | to ask, inquire | ASD |
| Old Saxon: | fregnan, fragōn | vb | to ask, inquire | ASD |
| Old High German: | forsca | n | question | W7 |
| frāga | n | question | RPN | |
| frāgēn | vb | to ask | RPN | |
| frāhēn | vb | to ask | RPN | |
| Middle High German: | vragen | vb | to ask, inquire | ASD |
| German: | Frage | n.fem | question | LRC |
| fragen | vb | to ask, inquire | ASD | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | fregna | vb | to ask; learn, hear of | LRC |
| Old Icelandic: | frétt | n | inquiry | RPN |
| Swedish: | fråga | vb | to ask, inquire | ASD |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | fraíhnan | vb.str.V | to ask, question | LRC |
| Italic | ||||
| Umbrian: | persklum | n | prayer | RPN |
| Latin: | deprecatus | vb.ptc | averted by prayer | W7 |
| deprecor, deprecāri | vb.dep | to avert by prayer | W7 | |
| expostulatus | vb.ptc | demanded, disputed | W7 | |
| expostulo, expostulāre | vb | to demand, dispute | W7 | |
| imprecatus | vb.ptc | invoked | W7 | |
| imprecor, imprecari | vb.dep | to invoke | W7 | |
| posco, poscere | vb | to ask | W7 | |
| poscō, poscere | vb | to ask, request | RPN | |
| postulatus | vb.ptc | asked, demanded | W7 | |
| postulo, postulāre | vb | to ask for | W7 | |
| postus | vb.ptc | asked | W7 | |
| precarius | adj | obtained by entreaty, uncertain | W7 | |
| precor, precārī, precātus | vb.dep | to ask, pray, request | LRC | |
| prex, precis | n.fem | prayer, request, entreaty | RPN | |
| Medieval Latin: | postulatum | n.neut | assumption | W7 |
| postulatus | vb.ptc | assumed | W7 | |
| postulō, postulāre | vb | to assume | W7 | |
| Old French: | preier | vb | to prey on, seize booty | W7 |
| preiere | n.fem | prayer | W7 | |
| Middle French: | precaria | n.fem | prayer | W7 |
| French: | prie-dieu | n.masc | prayer-desk | W7 |
| Baltic | ||||
| Lithuanian: | peršù, prašýti | vb | to ask, beg | RPN |
| Slavic | ||||
| Old Church Slavonic: | prositi, prošǫ, prosiši | vb | to ask, demand | LRC |
| Armenian | ||||
| Classical Armenian: | harcʿanem | vb | to ask | LRC |
| harcʿ | n | question, questioning, examination | LRC | |
| Iranian | ||||
| Avestan: | frašna- | n | question | RPN |
| pərəsaiti | vb | to ask, question | RPN | |
| Indic | ||||
| Sanskrit: | pṛccháti | vb | to ask, inquire about | RPN |
| praśná-ḥ | n | question, inquiry, query | RPN | |
| Tocharian | ||||
| Tocharian B: | pärk- | vb | to ask | RPN |
| prek- | vb | to ask | RPN | |
| Tocharian A: | pärk- | vb | to ask | RPN |
| prak- | vb | to ask | RPN | |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | = | 3rd person |
| III | = | class 3 |
| V | = | class 5 |
| adj | = | adjective |
| dep | = | deponent |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| neut | = | neuter (gender) |
| ptc | = | participle |
| sg | = | singular (number) |
| str | = | strong (inflection) |
| trans | = | transitive |
| 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) |
| ASD | = | Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller: An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (1898) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| RPN | = | Allan R. Bomhard: Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic (2002) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |