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: 7. (s)ter-n-   'thorn, prickly stalk'

Semantic Field(s): Sharp, Branch

 

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language Reflex(es) PoS/Gram. Gloss Source(s)
English  
Old English: æppel-ðorn n.masc crab-apple (tree), lit. apple-thorn ASD
slāh-þorn n.masc blackthorn, lit. sloe-thorn ASD
þorn n.masc thorn; (name for) TH-rune GED
þyrne n.fem thornbush GED
þyrnen adj thorny GED
Middle English: thorn n thorn W7
English: Appledore prop.n Bree surname in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings LRC
blackthorn n sloe (tree): Prunus spinosa W7
Pickthorn prop.n Bree surname in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings LRC
thorn n sharp woody plant spine AHD/W7
West Germanic  
Old Frisian: thorn n.masc thorn, spine, prickle ASD
thornen adj re: thorns ASD
Old Saxon: þorn n.masc thorn, spine, prickle ASD/GED
Old Low German: thorn n.masc thorn, spine, prickle ASD
Old High German: dorn n.masc thorn, spine, prickle ASD/W7
durnīn adj thorny ASD
þorn n.str.masc thorn GED
German: Dorn n.masc thorn LRC
North Germanic  
Old Icelandic: stirðr adj stiff GED
storð n.fem grass, stalk, stem GED
þorn n thorn GED
þyrnir n.masc thornbush GED
Icelandic: þorn n.masc thorn: name of letter ASD
þyrnir n.fem thorn ASD
Danish: slaaentorn n blackthorn, lit. sloe-thorn ASD
East Germanic  
Gothic: *þaurnus n.str.masc thorn, thorny plant ASD/GED
Slavic  
Old Church Slavonic: strъnь n stalk GED
trъnъ n thorny plant GED
Hellenic  
Hesychius' Greek Lexicon: τέρνακα n stem of cardoon fruit GED
Iranian  
New Persian: tarrah n grass GED
Khotanese: tarra- n grass GED
Indic  
Sanskrit: tŕ̥ṇam n grass, straw GED
tṛṇa n grass, blade of grass W7

 

Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:

Abbrev. Meaning
adj=adjective
fem=feminine (gender)
masc=masculine (gender)
n=noun
prop=proper
str=strong (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)
GED=Winfred P. Lehmann: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986)
LRC=Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
W7=Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

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