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. su̯ep-, sup-   'to sleep'

Semantic Field(s): to Sleep; Sleep

 

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language Reflex(es) PoS/Gram. Gloss Source(s)
Celtic  
Old Irish: súan n sleep RPN
English  
Old English: swefan vb to sleep RPN
swef(e)n n.neut sleep, dream LRC
Middle English: sompnolent adj somnolent W7
English: hypn(o)- pfx sleep AHD
hypnosis n sleeplike state AHD
hypnotic adj soporific, sleep-inducing AHD/W7
insomnia n prolonged/abnormal inability to sleep well AHD/W7
somnolent adj soporific AHD/W7
sopor n stupor, lethargy, deep unnatural sleep AHD/CDC
soporific adj causing/tending to cause sleep AHD/W7
West Germanic  
Old Saxon: sweban n dream ASD
North Germanic  
Old Norse: sofa vb to sleep LRC
Old Icelandic: sofna vb to fall asleep RPN
svefja vb to lull to sleep RPN
svefna n sleep RPN
Icelandic: sofa vb to sleep ASD
svefn, söfn n sleep, dream ASD
Danish: sove vb to sleep ASD
søvn n sleep ASD
Swedish: sofa vb to sleep ASD
sömn n sleep ASD
Italic  
Latin: insomnia n.fem sleeplessness W7
insomnis adj sleepless W7
somnolentus adj somnolent W7
somnus n.masc sleep, slumber RPN
sōpiō, sōpīre vb to stun, put/lull to sleep RPN
sŏpor n.masc deep sleep RPN
Late Latin: hypnoticus adj of sleep W7
Middle French: sompnolent adj somnolent, drowsy W7
French: hypnotique adj causing state of hypnose W7
soporifique adj that induces sleep W7
Baltic  
Lithuanian: sãpnas n sleep, dream RPN
Latvian: sapnis n sleep LRC
Slavic  
Old Church Slavonic: sъnъ n.masc sleep LRC
Hellenic  
Homeric Greek: ὕπνος n.masc sleep, slumber RPN
ὑπνόω vb to (put to) sleep RPN
Greek: hypnōtikos adj hypnotic, re: sleep W7
Anatolian  
Hittite: sup-zi vb.3.sg to sleep LRC
šu-up-pa-ri-y[a-zi] vb.3.sg to sleep RPN
Iranian  
Avestan: x˅afna- n sleep RPN
x˅ap- vb to sleep, slumber RPN
Indic  
Vedic: svápati, svapiti vb to sleep, fall asleep RPN
svápate vb.mid to sleep, fall asleep RPN
Sanskrit: svápna-ḥ n sleep, sleepiness RPN
svāpáyati vb.caus to cause to sleep RPN
Tocharian  
Tocharian B: ṣpäne n sleep RPN
Tocharian A: ṣpäṃ n sleep RPN

 

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

Abbrev. Meaning
adj=adjective
caus=causative
fem=feminine (gender)
masc=masculine (gender)
mid=middle (voice)
n=noun
neut=neuter (gender)
pfx=prefix
sg=singular (number)
vb=verb
3=3rd person

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)
LRC=Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
RPN=Allan R. Bomhard: Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic (2002)
W7=Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

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