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: sengu̯h- 'to sing'
Semantic Field(s): to Sing
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | ||||
| Welsh: | de(h)ongli | vb | to explain | LRC |
| English | ||||
| Old English: | sang, song | n.masc | song, poetry | ASD |
| singan, sang, sungon, sungen | vb.str.III | to sing, recite, compose | LRC | |
| Middle English: | singen | vb | to sing | W7 |
| song | n | song | W7 | |
| English: | Meistersinger | prop.n | master of 14th-16th century German guild cultivating traditions of medieval Minnesingers | W7 |
| minnesinger | n | German lyric poet/musician of 12th-14th centuries | AHD/W7 | |
| sing, sang, sung | vb.str | to produce music via voice | AHD/W7 | |
| singspiel | n | comic/dramatic German musical/dialogue work | AHD/W7 | |
| song | n | act/art of singing | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | singa | vb | to sing | ASD |
| song | n | song | ASD | |
| Dutch: | zingen | vb | to sing | LRC |
| Old Saxon: | sang | n | song | ASD |
| singan | vb | to sing | LRC | |
| Old High German: | sang | n | song | ASD |
| singan | vb | to sing, recite | W7 | |
| Middle High German: | meistersinger | n.masc | Meistersinger, lit. master-singer | W7 |
| minnesinger | n.masc | minnesinger, courtly love singer | W7 | |
| singer | n.masc | singer | W7 | |
| German: | Meistersinger | n.masc | Meistersinger | W7 |
| Minnesinger | n.masc | minnesinger | W7 | |
| singen | vb | to sing | W7 | |
| singspiel | n.neut | singspiel | W7 | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | syngja, syngva | vb | to sing | LRC |
| Icelandic: | syngva | vb | to sing, ring, whistle | ASD |
| söngr | n | song | ASD | |
| Danish: | synge | vb | to sing | LRC |
| Swedish: | sjunga | vb | to sing | LRC |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | saggws | n | song | ASD |
| siggwan | vb.str.III | to sing | GED | |
| Crimean Gothic: | singhen | vb | to sing | CGo |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Hesychius' Greek Lexicon: | ζίγγος | n | humming of bees | LRC |
| Homeric Greek: | ὀμφή | n.fem | voice of a god/goddess | LRC |
| Indic | ||||
| Prakrit: | saṃghai | vb | to say, teach | LRC |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| III | = | class 3 |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| neut | = | neuter (gender) |
| prop | = | proper |
| str | = | strong (inflection) |
| 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) |
| CGo | = | MacDonald Stearns, Jr: Crimean Gothic (1978) |
| GED | = | Winfred P. Lehmann: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |