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)

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