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: 2. sp(h)ei : sp(h)ī̆, and sp(h)ē : sp(h)ə- 'to pull, drag'
Semantic Field(s): to Draw, Pull
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | spann | n.fem | span | IEW/W7 |
| spannan, sponnan | vb | to span, bind | CDC/IEW | |
| Middle English: | span(ne), sponne | n | span | CDC/W7 |
| spannen | vb | to span | CDC | |
| English: | span | n | distance between ends of thumb/little finger on spread hand | AHD/W7 |
| span | vb | to reach, stretch, extend, connect | LRC | |
| spancel | n | tether, rope for hobbling animal | AHD | |
| spanner | n | wrench | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Middle Dutch: | spannen | vb | to span, bind, hitch up | W7 |
| Old High German: | spanna | n | span | IEW/W7 |
| spannan | vb | to span | CDC | |
| German: | spannen | vb | to span | W7 |
| Spanner | n.masc | press; spanner | W7 | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | spenna, spennat | vb | to span, clasp | LRC |
| Icelandic: | spenna | vb | to span, clasp | ASD |
| spönn | n.fem | span | ASD | |
| Danish: | spænde | vb | to span, strain | CDC |
| Swedish: | spänna | vb | to span, strain | CDC |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Greek: | σπάω | vb | to draw, pull, drag | IEW |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| 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) |
| CDC | = | W.D. Whitney and B.E. Smith: The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (1889-1911) |
| IEW | = | Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
