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: (s)p(h)i̯ēu- : (s)pi̯ū-, (s)pīu̯- 'to spit, spew, sputter'
Semantic Field(s): to Spit
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) | 
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | spǣtl, spātl | n.neut | spittle | W7 | 
| spittan, spyttan | vb.wk | to spit | ASD/W7 | |
| spīwan | vb.str | to spew | ASD/W7 | |
| Middle English: | spetil | n | spittle | W7 | 
| spewen | vb | to spew | W7 | |
| spitten | vb | to spit | W7 | |
| spouten | vb | to spout | W7 | |
| English: | cuspidor | n | spittoon | AHD/W7 | 
| hemoptysis | n | expectoration of blood from respiratory tract | AHD/W7 | |
| ptyalin | n | amylase found in saliva | AHD/W7 | |
| spew | vb | to vomit | AHD/W7 | |
| spit, spat | vb.str | to expectorate, eject (saliva) from mouth | AHD/W7 | |
| spit | n | spittle | W7 | |
| spittle | n | saliva | AHD/W7 | |
| spittoon | n | receptacle for spit | W7 | |
| spout | vb | to eject (liquid) in a stream | AHD/W7 | |
| sputter | vb | to splutter, spit/squirt noisily from mouth | AHD/W7 | |
| sputum | n | expectorated matter (incl. saliva etc.) | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | spī(g)a | vb | to spew | ASD | 
| Middle Dutch: | spoiten | vb | to spout | W7 | 
| Dutch: | sputteren | vb | to sputter | W7 | 
| Old Saxon: | spīwan | vb | to spew | ASD | 
| Old High German: | spīwan | vb | to spit, spew | W7 | 
| German: | speutzen, spützen | vb | to spit | ASD | 
| Spucke | n.fem | spit | LRC | |
| spucken | vb | to spit | LRC | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Icelandic: | spýja | vb | to spew | ASD | 
| spýta | vb | to spit | ASD | |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | speiwan | vb | to spit | ASD | 
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | conspuo, conspuere | vb | to spit on | W7 | 
| spuo, spuere | vb | to spit | W7 | |
| sputum | n.neut | spit, spittle | W7 | |
| sputus | vb.ptc | spit | W7 | |
| New Latin: | hemoptysis | n.fem | expectoration of blood | W7 | 
| Portuguese: | cuspidouro | n.masc | cuspidor | W7 | 
| cuspir | vb | to spit | W7 | |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Homeric Greek: | πτύω | vb | to spit | LRC | 
| Greek: | ptyalon | n.neut | saliva | W7 | 
| ptysis | n.fem | act of spitting | W7 | |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| fem | = | feminine (gender) | 
| masc | = | masculine (gender) | 
| n | = | noun | 
| neut | = | neuter (gender) | 
| ptc | = | participle | 
| 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) | 
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin | 
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |