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)plei- 'to cut, split'
Semantic Field(s): to Cut, to Split
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | flint | n.masc | flint | W7 |
| Middle English: | flendris | n.pl | flinders | W7 |
| flint | n | flint | W7 | |
| splint | n | splint | W7 | |
| splinter | n | splinter | W7 | |
| English: | flense | vb.trans | to strip off (skin/blubber) | AHD/W7 |
| flinders | n.pl | fragments, splinters | AHD/W7 | |
| flint | n | massive hard quartz | AHD/W7 | |
| splent | n | chip, shaving, splinter, fragment | IEW | |
| splice | vb.trans | to unite (e.g. ropes) by interweaving strands | AHD/W7 | |
| splint | n | small plate/strip of wood/metal | AHD/W7 | |
| splinter | n | sliver, thin piece split off lengthwise | AHD/W7 | |
| split, split | vb.anom | to divide along grain/seam/layer | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Middle Dutch: | splitten | vb | to split | W7 |
| Dutch: | flensen | vb | to flense | W7 |
| splissen | vb | to splice | W7 | |
| Middle Low German: | splente, splinte | n | splint | W7 |
| Old High German: | flins | n | pebble, hard stone | W7 |
| spaltan | vb | to split | W7 | |
| Middle High German: | vlins | n.masc | flint | ASD |
| German: | Flint | n.masc | flint | LRC |
| spalten | vb | to split | LRC | |
| spleissen | vb | to splice | LRC | |
| Splitter | n.masc | splinter | LRC | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Danish: | flint | n.masc/fem | flint | ASD |
| Swedish: | flinta | n.fem | flint | ASD |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| anom | = | anomalous/indeclinable |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| pl | = | plural (number) |
| trans | = | transitive |
| 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) |
| IEW | = | Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
