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: slenk-, sleng- 'to turn, wind; creep, slink'
Semantic Field(s): to Turn, to Wind, Wrap, to Creep, Crawl
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | slincan | vb.str | to slink, creep | ASD/W7 |
| slingan | vb.str | to wind, worm, twist | ASD/W7 | |
| Middle English: | slingen | vb | to sling | W7 |
| slinken | vb | to slink | W7 | |
| English: | lumbricoid | n | creature resembling earthworm | AHD/W7 |
| sling, slung | vb.str.trans | to fling, cast forcibly | AHD/W7 | |
| slingshot | n | Y-shaped stick with elastic strap for flinging small stones | AHD | |
| slink, slunk | vb.str.intrans | to go/move furtively/stealthily | AHD/W7 | |
| Slinker | prop.n | a.k.a. Gollum in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings | LRC | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Dutch: | slang | n | snake | TLL |
| Old Saxon: | slango | n | snake | KSW |
| Old High German: | slango | n | snake | KDW |
| slīhhan | vb | to slink, creep, crawl | ASD | |
| slingan | vb | to wind, worm, twist | ASD | |
| German: | Schlange | n | snake | TLL |
| schlingen | vb | to wind, twist, weave | ASD | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Icelandic: | slyngva | vb | to wind | ASD |
| Danish: | slange | n | snake | TLL |
| Old Swedish: | slinka | vb | to slink, creep | IEW |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | lumbricus | n.masc | earthworm | W7 |
| Baltic | ||||
| Lithuanian: | sliñkti, sleñka, sliñko | vb | to pass, slip | LRC |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| intrans | = | intransitive |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| prop | = | proper |
| 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) |
| IEW | = | Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959) |
| KDW | = | Gerhard Köbler: Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 4th ed. (1993) |
| KSW | = | Gerhard Köbler: Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed. (2000) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| TLL | = | Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
