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: slak- 'to hit, hammer'
Semantic Field(s): to Hit, Strike, Beat, Hammer (n)
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | ||||
| Middle Irish: | slacain | vb.1.sg | I beat | W7 |
| English | ||||
| Old English: | ofslean, ofslōh, ofslōgon, ofslægen | vb.str.VI | to slay, destroy | LRC |
| sle(a)ht, sli(e)ht, slīet, slyht | n.masc | stroke, striking, slaughter | ASD/W7 | |
| slēan, slōg, slōgon, slagen | vb.str | to slay, smite, strike | ASD/W7 | |
| slecg | n.fem | sledge | W7 | |
| Middle English: | slaughter | n | slaughter | W7 |
| slegge | n | sledge | W7 | |
| sleight | n | sleight | W7 | |
| slen | vb | to slay | W7 | |
| sli | adj | sly | W7 | |
| English: | onslaught | n | fierce attack | AHD/W7 |
| schlock | n | shoddy/inferior item | AHD | |
| slag | n | cinder, dross/scoria of metal | AHD/W7 | |
| slaughter | n | act of killing | AHD/W7 | |
| slay, slew, slain | vb.str | to kill, put to death violently | AHD/W7 | |
| sledge | n | sledgehammer | AHD/W7 | |
| sledgehammer | n | large heavy two-handed hammer | W7 | |
| sleight | n | deceitful craftiness | AHD/W7 | |
| sly | adj | shrewd, canny | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | slā | vb | to slay, smite, strike | ASD |
| slachte | n | (mortal) blow; stamp, coining | ASD | |
| Dutch: | aanslag | n | onslaught | W7 |
| Old Saxon: | man-slahta | n.fem | manslaughter | ASD |
| slahan | vb | to slay, smite, strike | ASD | |
| Middle Low German: | slagge | n | slag | W7 |
| Old High German: | slaga | n | sledge, hammer, mallet | ASD |
| slahan | vb | to slay, smite, strike | W7 | |
| slahta | n | slaughter | ASD | |
| German: | Anschlag | n.masc | onslaught, assault | LRC |
| Schlag | n.masc | hit, blow | LRC | |
| schlagen | vb | to hit, strike, smite | LRC | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | slá | vb | to slay, smite, strike | LRC |
| slātra | vb | to slaughter | W7 | |
| sleggja | n | sledge | W7 | |
| sloeght | n | sleight | W7 | |
| sloegr | adj | sly | W7 | |
| Old Icelandic: | sláttr | n.masc | smiting, mowing; striking an instrument | ICE |
| Icelandic: | slá | vb | to slay, smite, strike | ASD |
| sleggja | n | sledge | ASD | |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | af-slahan | vb | to slay | ASD |
| slahan | vb | to slay, smite, strike | ASD | |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | = | 1st person |
| VI | = | class 6 |
| adj | = | adjective |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| sg | = | singular (number) |
| 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) |
| ICE | = | Richard Cleasby and Gudbrand Vigfusson: An Icelandic-English Dictionary (1874) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |