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: (s)leu- 'slack, feeble, loosely hanging'
Semantic Field(s): Weak, Infirm, to Drop
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | ||||
| Middle Irish: | lott | n | whore | GED |
| English | ||||
| Old English: | lieþre | adj | useless | GED |
| *slīete | n | sleet, hail | IEW | |
| Middle English: | slugge | n | slug | W7 |
| English: | slear, sleer | vb | to smear, spread | IEW |
| sleet | n | (partly) frozen rain | IEW/W7 | |
| slete | n | sleet | W7 | |
| slouch | n | lout, lazy/awkward/ungainly person | W7 | |
| slouch | vb | to walk/act like slouch | IEW/W7 | |
| slud | n.dial | sludge | IEW | |
| sludge | n | mud, mire, ooze | W7 | |
| slug | n | sluggard | IEW/W7 | |
| sluggard | n | habitually lazy/sluggish person | W7 | |
| sluggish | adj | slow, torpid, indolent | IEW/W7 | |
| slur | n.obs | silt, ooze, slime, thin mud | IEW/W7 | |
| slur | vb | to slip, slide, smear | IEW/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Dutch: | sloddern | vb | to flap, shake | GED |
| Middle High German: | liederlich | adj | slight, scanty | GED |
| slote(r)n | vb | to flap, shake | GED | |
| slūder | n.fem | sling, catapult | GED | |
| slūder-affe | n.masc | idler | GED | |
| slūdern | vb.wk | to throw, sling | GED | |
| German: | liederlich | adj | lewd, immoral, slovenly | LRC |
| Schleuder | n.fem | sling, catapult | LRC | |
| schleudern | vb | to fling, catapult; skid, slide | LRC | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Icelandic: | sloðra | vb.wk | to drag oneself ahead | GED |
| Norwegian: | slugga | vb | to move slowly/sluggishly | IEW |
| Danish: | sludre | vb | to chatter | GED |
| Swedish: | slugga | vb | to move slowly/sluggishly | IEW |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | *af-slauþjan | vb.wk.I | to be perplexed | GED |
| *af-slauþnan | vb.wk.IV | to be amazed | GED | |
| Slavic | ||||
| Serbo-Croatian: | lutati | vb | to saunter | GED |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| I | = | class 1 |
| IV | = | class 4 |
| adj | = | adjective |
| dial | = | dialectal |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| obs | = | obsolete |
| vb | = | verb |
| wk | = | weak (inflection) |
Key to information Source codes (always with 'LRC' as editor):
| Code | Citation | |
|---|---|---|
| GED | = | Winfred P. Lehmann: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986) |
| IEW | = | Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
