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: 1. (s)ter-, (s)terə- : (s)trē- 'stark, stiff, solid, rigid, etc.'
Semantic Field(s): Strong, Mighty, Powerful, Hard
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | starian | vb.wk | to stare | ASD/W7 |
| stearc | adj | stiff, rigid | W7 | |
| steorfan | vb | to starve | W7 | |
| steort | n | tail | LRC | |
| *stercan | vb | to starch, stiffen | W7 | |
| storc | n.masc | stork | W7 | |
| strīdan, strād, stridon, striden | vb.str | to stride, walk | ASD/IEW | |
| stride | n.masc | stride, pace | ASD | |
| strīman | vb | to strime; resist, oppose | ASD | |
| strīmendi | adj | striving, resisting | IEW | |
| strūtian | vb | to exert oneself | W7 | |
| styrne | adj | stern | W7 | |
| þrot-bolla | n.masc | throttle, gullet | ASD/IEW | |
| þrote | n | throttle | IEW | |
| þrotu | n.fem | throat | ASD/IEW | |
| Middle English: | staren | vb | to stare | W7 |
| stark | adj | stark | W7 | |
| sterchen | vb | to starch, stiffen | W7 | |
| sterne | adj | stern | W7 | |
| sterten | vb | to start | W7 | |
| stertlen | vb.freq | to startle | W7 | |
| sterven | vb | to starve | W7 | |
| stork | n | stork | W7 | |
| striden | vb | to stride | W7 | |
| strompat, strumpet | n | strumpet | OED | |
| strouten | vb | to strut | W7 | |
| struglen | vb | to struggle | W7 | |
| throte | n | throat | W7 | |
| throtlen | vb | to throttle | W7 | |
| English: | anastrophe | n | inversion of usual syntactic word order | AHD/W7 |
| apostrophe | n | mark (') used to indicate plural/possessive-case/letter-omission | AHD/W7 | |
| boustrophedon | adj | re: writing alternate lines in alternate directions | AHD/W7 | |
| catastrophe | n | final event of drama (esp. tragedy) | AHD/W7 | |
| cholesterol | n | steroid alcohol in animal cells/body fluids | AHD/W7 | |
| diastrophism | n | deformation of earth's crust | AHD/W7 | |
| redstart | n | small European songbird with rust-red breast/tail | AHD | |
| starch | vb.trans | to stiffen (with starch) | AHD/W7 | |
| stare | vb | to look fixedly | AHD/W7 | |
| stark | adj | strong, robust | AHD/W7 | |
| Starkhorn | prop.n | Rohan mountain in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings | LRC | |
| start | vb | to jump, move suddenly/violently | AHD/W7 | |
| startle | vb | to move/jump suddenly (in alarm/surprise) | AHD/W7 | |
| starve | vb | to perish from want of food | AHD/W7 | |
| stere | n | unit of volume: 1 cu. meter | AHD/W7 | |
| sterigma | n | stalk, support, slender projection | AHD/CDC | |
| stern | adj | austere, hard/severe in nature/manner | AHD/W7 | |
| stork | n | large Old World wading bird | AHD/W7 | |
| strabismus | n | inability to attain binocular vision | AHD/W7 | |
| strabotomy | n | surgical incision of eye muscle/tendon | AHD | |
| strafe | vb | to rake with gunfire | W7 | |
| strepto- | pfx | twisted | AHD/W7 | |
| streptomycin | n | antibiotic for bacterial infections | AHD | |
| streptonigrin | n | highly toxic antibiotic for tumors | AHD | |
| stride, strode, stridden | vb.str | to stand astride, walk with long steps | W7 | |
| stride | n | long step | W7 | |
| Strider | prop.n | man a.k.a. Aragorn in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings | LRC | |
| strime | vb.dial | to stride | IEW | |
| strobilus | n | aggregation of sporophylls resembling cone | AHD/W7 | |
| stroboscope | n | instrument for measuring speed/frequency of rotation/vibration | AHD/W7 | |
| strop | n | strap, strip of leather/canvas | AHD | |
| strophe | n | turning movement of classical Greek chorus | AHD/W7 | |
| strophoid | n | nodal plane cubic curve | AHD/CDC | |
| strophulus | n | red-gum: papular skin eruption | AHD | |
| struggle | vb | to strive, use strong/violent effort | IEW/W7 | |
| strumpery | n.obs | whoredom, harlotry, prostitution | OED | |
| strumpet | n | whore, harlot, prostitute | OED | |
| strut | vb | to swell, become turgid | AHD/W7 | |
| throat | n | part of neck in front of spinal column | IEW/W7 | |
| thropple | n | throttle | IEW | |
| throttle | n | throat, windpipe, trachea | IEW | |
| throttle | vb | to choke, compress throat | W7 | |
| torpedo | n | electric ray | AHD/W7 | |
| torpid | adj | numb, dormant, without motion/feeling/power of exertion | AHD/W7 | |
| torpor | n | state of mental/motor inactivity | AHD/W7 | |
| Scots English: | strunt | vb.dial | to strut, swagger | IEW/W7 |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | sterk | adj | stiff, rigid, hard | ASD |
| strīd | n | strife | ASD | |
| strīda | vb.wk | to contend | ASD | |
| Dutch: | staart | n | tail | TLL |
| struik | n | bush | TLL | |
| Old Saxon: | stark | adj | hard, stiff, rigid | ASD |
| strīd | n | strife, contest | ASD | |
| strīdian | vb | to dispute, contend | ASD | |
| Old High German: | drozza | n | throat | W7 |
| starc, starah | adj | stark | ASD/W7 | |
| starēn | vb | to stare | W7 | |
| sterban | vb | to die | W7 | |
| sterz | n | tail | LRC | |
| storah, storc | n | stork | ASD/W7 | |
| strīt | n | strife, contest | ASD | |
| strītan | vb.str | to dispute, contend | ASD | |
| Middle High German: | sterzen | vb | to stand stiffly, move quickly | W7 |
| German: | stark | adj | strong | LRC |
| starren | vb | to stare | LRC | |
| sterben | vb | to die | LRC | |
| Storch | n.masc | stork | LRC | |
| strafen | vb | to fine, punish, chastise | TLL | |
| Strauch | n.masc | bush, shrub | LRC | |
| Strumpf | n.masc | sock, stocking | TLL | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | starf | n.neut | work, trouble | LRC |
| sterkr | adj | stark | LRC | |
| stertr | n | tail | LRC | |
| strúpi | n | throat | LRC | |
| Icelandic: | stara | vb | to stare | ASD |
| sterkr | adj | stark | ASD | |
| storkr | n | stork | ASD | |
| Danish: | stork | n | stork | TLL |
| straffe | vb | to punish | TLL | |
| strube | n | throat (internal) | TLL | |
| strømpe | n | stocking | TLL | |
| Swedish: | stork | n | stork | TLL |
| strumpa | n | stocking | TLL | |
| strupe | n | throat (internal) | TLL | |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | stirps | n.fem | trunk, root | W7 |
| strenuus | adj | strenuous | W7 | |
| struma | n.fem | goiter | W7 | |
| torpedo | n.fem | torpor, numbness | W7 | |
| torpeo, torpēre | vb | to be stiff/numb | W7 | |
| torpidus | adj | torpid | W7 | |
| torpor | n.masc | slumber, stiffness | W7 | |
| Late Latin: | anastrophē | n | anastrophe | AHD |
| apostrophus | n.masc | turning away | W7 | |
| strobilus | n.masc | pine cone | W7 | |
| New Latin: | strabismus | n.masc | strabismus, condition of squinting | W7 |
| strepto- | vb.ptc | strepto- | W7 | |
| strobilus | n.masc | twisted object, pine cone | W7 | |
| Middle French: | apostrophe | n.fem | apostrophe | W7 |
| French: | apostrophe | n | apostrophe | AHD |
| cholésterine | n.fem | solid cholesterol | W7 | |
| stère | n.masc | stere | R1/W7 | |
| Baltic | ||||
| Lithuanian: | starinti | vb | to stiffen | W7 |
| Slavic | ||||
| Old Church Slavonic: | straxъ | n.masc | terror | LRC |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Homeric Greek: | ἀπο-στρέφω | vb | to turn/twist back/away | LRC |
| στερεός | adj | hard, stiff, solid | LRC | |
| στρεπτός | adj | twisted, braided | LRC | |
| στρέφω | vb | to turn, twist | LRC | |
| στρωφάω | vb | to tarry, keep turning | LRC | |
| Greek: | ἀνα-στρέφω | vb | to turn back | LRC |
| ana-strophē | n.fem | turning back | W7 | |
| apo-strophos | adj | turned away | W7 | |
| bou-strophēdon | adv | turning like oxen (in plowing) | W7 | |
| δια-στρέφω | vb | to distort | LRC | |
| dia-strophē | n.fem | twisting | W7 | |
| κατα-στρέφω | vb | to overturn | LRC | |
| kata-strophē | n.fem | catastrophe, overturning | W7 | |
| strabizein | vb | to squint | W7 | |
| strabismos | n.masc | strabismus, condition of squinting | W7 | |
| strabos | adj | squinting, squint-eyed | W7 | |
| strobilos | n.masc | pine cone | W7 | |
| strobos | n.masc | action of whirling | W7 | |
| strophē | n.fem | act of turning | W7 | |
| ὑπο-στρέφω | vb | to turn away | LRC | |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| adv | = | adverb(ial) |
| dial | = | dialectal |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| freq | = | frequentative (aspect) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| neut | = | neuter (gender) |
| obs | = | obsolete |
| pfx | = | prefix |
| prop | = | proper |
| ptc | = | participle |
| str | = | strong (inflection) |
| trans | = | transitive |
| 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) |
| IEW | = | Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| OED | = | James A.H. Murray et al: The Oxford English Dictionary (1933) |
| R1 | = | Josette Rey-Debove and Alain Rey, eds. Le Nouveau Petit Robert (1993) |
| TLL | = | Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |