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) |