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: sp(h)ē-, sp(h)ə-(dh-) 'long flat piece of wood'
Semantic Field(s): Board
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | spadu | n.fem | spade | W7 |
| spōn | n.masc | chip, shaving, splinter | W7 | |
| Middle English: | spade | n | spade | W7 |
| spayen | vb | to spay | W7 | |
| spoon | n | spoon | W7 | |
| English: | epee, épée | n | dueling/fencing sword | TLL |
| spade | n | digging implement pushed into ground with foot | AHD/W7 | |
| spade | n | black figure on playing card | AHD/W7 | |
| spathe | n | sheathing bract (pair) enclosing inflorescence | AHD/W7 | |
| spathic | adj | foliated, resembling spar | AHD/W7 | |
| spatula | n | flat thin implement for scooping/lifting/mixing/spreading soft substances | AHD/W7 | |
| spay | vb.trans | to remove ovaries of (female animal) | AHD/W7 | |
| sphene | n | silicate mineral of calcium/titanium | AHD/W7 | |
| spoon | n | eating/cooking implement: small shallow bowl with handle | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | spōn | n | chip, shaving | ASD |
| Old Low German: | spado | n | spade | ASD |
| Old High German: | spān | n | chip/splinter (of wood) | W7 |
| German: | Span | n.masc | chip, splinter, flint blade | LRC |
| Spat(h) | n.masc | spar, spavin | W7 | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Icelandic: | spánn, spónn | n | chip, splinter | ASD |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | spatha | n.fem | blade | W7 |
| Late Latin: | spatula | n.fem | shoulder blade | W7 |
| New Latin: | spatha | n.fem | spathe | W7 |
| Spanish: | espada | n.fem | broad sword | W7 |
| Old French: | espee | n.fem | epee | W7 |
| espeer | vb | to cut with sword | W7 | |
| French: | épée | n | epee | TLL |
| sphène | n.fem | sphene | W7 | |
| Italian: | spada | n.fem | sword, spade | W7 |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Greek: | σπάθη | n.fem | flat blade | LS |
| σφήν | n.masc | wedge | LS | |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| 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) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| LS | = | Liddell and Scott: Greek-English Lexicon, 7th-9th ed's (1882-1940), rev. |
| TLL | = | Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
