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: sneigu̯h- 'to snow; snow'
Semantic Field(s): Snow (n)
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | ||||
| Old Irish: | snechti | n.pl | snow | LRC |
| snige | n | rain, drop | LRC | |
| snigid | vb | to snow, precipitate | LRC | |
| Welsh: | nyf | n | snow | LRC |
| nyfio | vb | to snow | LRC | |
| English | ||||
| Old English: | snāw | n.masc | snow | W7 |
| snīwan | vb.wk | to snow | ASD | |
| Middle English: | snow | n | snow | W7 |
| English: | neve | n | partially compacted granular snow at glacier's upper end | AHD/W7 |
| nival | adj | snowy, in/under snow | AHD/CDC | |
| niveous | adj | snowy, resembling snow | AHD | |
| snow | n | (small white crystals of) frozen water vapor | AHD/W7 | |
| snow | vb | to fall as/like snow | W7 | |
| Snowbourn | prop.n | Rohan river in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings | LRC | |
| Snowmane | prop.n | Theoden's horse in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings | LRC | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Dutch: | sneew | n | snow | TLL |
| Old Saxon: | snēu | n | snow | ASD |
| Old High German: | snēo | n | snow | W7 |
| snīwan | vb | to snow | LRC | |
| German: | Schnee | n.masc | snow | LRC |
| schneien | vb | to snow | LRC | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | snœr, snjār, snjōr | n | snow | LRC |
| Icelandic: | snivinn | vb | to snow | ASD |
| snjór | n | snow | ASD | |
| Danish: | sne | n | snow | TLL |
| Swedish: | snö | n | snow | TLL |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | snáiws | n.str.masc | snow | LRC |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | nivit | vb.impers | to snow | LRC |
| nix, nivis | n.fem | snow | W7 | |
| Baltic | ||||
| Old Prussian: | snaygis | n | snow | LRC |
| Lithuanian: | sniẽgas | n | snow | LRC |
| sniẽgti | vb | to snow | LRC | |
| Latvian: | snìegs | n | snow | LRC |
| Slavic | ||||
| Old Church Slavonic: | snĕgŭ | n | snow | LRC |
| Russian: | snég | n | snow | LRC |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Hesychius' Greek Lexicon: | νίφα | n.acc | snow | LRC |
| Homeric Greek: | νῐφάς | n.fem | ice, snow(flake) | LRC |
| Iranian | ||||
| Avestan: | snaēžaiti | vb | to snow | LRC |
| Indic | ||||
| Prakrit: | siṇeha | n | snow | LRC |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| acc | = | accusative (case) |
| adj | = | adjective |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| impers | = | impersonal (verb) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| pl | = | plural (number) |
| prop | = | proper |
| str | = | strong (inflection) |
| 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) |
| CDC | = | W.D. Whitney and B.E. Smith: The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (1889-1911) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| TLL | = | Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
