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. (s)p(h)er-, sprei-, spreu- 'to sow, strew, spread, scatter, sprinkle'
Semantic Field(s): to Strew, Spread Out
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | ||||
| Welsh: | ffrau | n | stream | GED |
| ffrwst | n.masc | haste | GED | |
| English | ||||
| Old English: | āsprūtan | vb | to sprout, shoot up | GED |
| sprǣdan | vb.wk | to spread | ASD/W7 | |
| sprēawlian | vb.wk | to sprawl | ASD/W7 | |
| sprēot | n.masc | sprit, pole | W7 | |
| sprēotan, sprūtan | vb.wk | to sprout, spring up | ASD/GED | |
| -sprūtan | vb.sfx | to sprout | W7 | |
| Middle English: | bouspret | n | bowsprit | W7 |
| sperm | n | sperm | W7 | |
| sprawlen | vb | to sprawl | W7 | |
| spreden | vb | to spread | W7 | |
| spret, sprit | n | sprit | W7 | |
| sprouten | vb | to sprout | W7 | |
| English: | bowsprit | n | spar projecting forward from ship's stem | AHD/W7 |
| Diaspora | prop.n | dispersion of Jews among Gentiles | AHD/CDC | |
| pittosporum | n | evergreen shrub native to warm regions | AHD | |
| sperm | n | male reproductive cell(s) | AHD/W7 | |
| sporadic | adj | isolated, separate, occurring occasionally in scattered instances | AHD/W7 | |
| spore | n | primitive unicellular reproductive plant body | AHD/W7 | |
| sprawl | vb | to lie thrashing/tossing about | AHD/W7 | |
| spray | n | water flying as dispersed droplets | AHD/W7 | |
| spray | n | small flowering shoot/branch | AHD/W7 | |
| spray | vb | to apply/sprinkle/disperse liquid as spray | AHD/W7 | |
| spread, spread | vb | to open/expand over larger area | AHD/W7 | |
| sprit | n | spar crossing fore-and-aft sail on diagonal | AHD/W7 | |
| spritz | vb | to squirt/spray quickly | AHD | |
| spritzer | n | wine drink with carbonated water | AHD | |
| sprout | n | (young) shoot, new growth | W7 | |
| sprout | vb | to put out sprout(s) | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | sprūta | vb | to sprout, shoot up | GED |
| Middle Dutch: | sprayen | vb | to spray | W7 |
| Dutch: | spriet | n | sprit | ASD |
| spruit | n | sprout | TLL | |
| Old Saxon: | ūt-sprūtan | vb.str | to sprout, shoot up | GED |
| Old Low German: | te-spreidan | vb | to spread, disperse | ASD |
| Middle Low German: | bōchsprēt | n | bowsprit | W7 |
| sprēt | n | sprit, pole | W7 | |
| Old High German: | spreitan | vb | to spread | RPN |
| spreiten | vb | to spread | W7 | |
| spriozan | vb | to sprout | W7 | |
| spriu | n.str.neut | chaff | GED | |
| Middle High German: | spriezen | vb.str | to sprout, spring up | GED |
| German: | spreizen | vb | to spread | LRC |
| Spreu | n.fem | spray, chaff | LRC | |
| Spritzer | n.masc | squirter, splasher; spritzer | AHD | |
| sprühen | vb | to spray | LRC | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Danish: | sprød | n | sprit, pole | ASD |
| Swedish: | spröt | n | sprit, pole | ASD |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | sprauto | adv | quickly, without delay | GED |
| Italic | ||||
| Late Latin: | sperma, spermatis | n.neut | seed, sperm | W7 |
| Medieval Latin: | sporadicus | adj | sporadic, from time to time | W7 |
| New Latin: | spora | n.fem | seed, spore | W7 |
| Middle French: | esperme | n.masc | sperm | W7 |
| Baltic | ||||
| Lithuanian: | spráusti | vb | to press, squeeze into gap | GED |
| sprū́sti | vb | to flee, slip out | GED | |
| Latvian: | spraûst | vb | to insert | GED |
| sprûst | vb | to cramp | GED | |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Greek: | σπείρω | vb | to sow, scatter | GED |
| σπείρων | n.masc | sower | LRC | |
| σπέρμα | n.neut | seed | LRC | |
| σπορά | n.fem | seed, (act of) sowing | LS | |
| σποράδην | adv | here and there | LS | |
| σπορᾰδικός | adj | sporadic, scattered | LS | |
| Armenian | ||||
| Armenian: | pʰarat | adj | dispersed, scattered | RPN |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| adv | = | adverb(ial) |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| neut | = | neuter (gender) |
| prop | = | proper |
| sfx | = | suffix |
| 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) |
| GED | = | Winfred P. Lehmann: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| LS | = | Liddell and Scott: Greek-English Lexicon, 7th-9th ed's (1882-1940), rev. |
| RPN | = | Allan R. Bomhard: Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic (2002) |
| TLL | = | Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |