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: plēk̑-, plək̑-, and plēik̑-, plīk̑- 'to flay, peel, rip, tear off'
Semantic Field(s): to Flay, Skin, to Tear
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | flǣsc | n.neut | flesh | ASD |
| flǣsc-hama, flǣsc-homa | n.wk.masc | body, carcass, lit. flesh-coat | ASD | |
| flēan | vb.str | to flay | ASD/RPN | |
| flicce | n | flitch | W7 | |
| Middle English: | flecken | vb | to fleck | W7 |
| flen | vb | to flay | W7 | |
| flesh | n | flesh | W7 | |
| flicche | n | flitch | W7 | |
| English: | flay | vb.trans | to skin, strip off skin/surface of | AHD/W7 |
| fleck | vb.trans | to spot, streak | AHD/W7 | |
| flesh | n | soft parts of animal (esp. vertebrate) body | AHD/W7 | |
| flitch | n | side of pork cured/smoked as bacon | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | flask, flesk | n.neut | flesh | ASD |
| Frisian: | flæsck, flæsch | n | flesh | ASD |
| Dutch: | vlae(ghe)n | vb | to flay | ASD |
| vleesch | n.neut | flesh | ASD | |
| Old Saxon: | flēsk, fleisk | n.neut | flesh | ASD |
| Low German: | fleesk, fleesch | n.neut | flesh | ASD |
| flikke | n.masc | spot, piece | ASD | |
| Old High German: | fleccho | n.masc | spot | ASD |
| fleisk, fleisc | n.neut | flesh | ASD/W7 | |
| Middle High German: | vlëc | n.masc | piece | ASD |
| vleisch | n.neut | flesh | ASD | |
| German: | Fleck | n.masc/neut | rag, piece, spot, place | ASD |
| Flecke | n.masc | rag, piece, spot, place | ASD | |
| Fleisch | n.neut | flesh | ASD | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | flā | vb | to flay | W7 |
| flekkōttr | n | spot | W7 | |
| flekkr | n | spot | W7 | |
| Old Icelandic: | flakna | vb | to flake off, split | RPN |
| flá | vb | to flay | RPN | |
| Icelandic: | flā | vb | to flay | ASD |
| flesk | n.neut | flesh, pork, ham, bacon | ASD | |
| flik | n.fem | rag | ASD | |
| flikki | n.neut | flitch of bacon | ASD | |
| Danish: | flesk | n.neut | flesh, pork, bacon | ASD |
| flik(ke) | n.masc/fem | piece, rag | ASD | |
| Swedish: | flik | n.masc | lap | ASD |
| flå | vb | to flay | ASD | |
| fläsk | n.neut | flesh, pork, bacon | ASD | |
| Baltic | ||||
| Lithuanian: | plėš | vb | to tear | W7 |
| plyšỹs | n.masc | fissure, cleft | LRC | |
| plýšti | vb | to split, break, burst | RPN | |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| neut | = | neuter (gender) |
| str | = | strong (inflection) |
| 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) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| RPN | = | Allan R. Bomhard: Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic (2002) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |