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: su̯erbh-, also su̯er-? 'to turn, sweep, swerve'
Semantic Field(s): to Turn, to Sweep
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | sweorfan, swearf, swurfon, sworfen | vb | to rub, scour, file, wipe away | ASD/W7 |
| Middle English: | swerven | vb | to swerve | W7 |
| English: | swarf | n | metallic particles removed by cutting/grinding tool | AHD/W7 |
| swerve | vb | to deviate, turn aside | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | swerva | vb | to go, move | ASD |
| Dutch: | zwerven | vb | to rove, wander | ASD |
| Old Saxon: | swerban | vb | to wipe | ASD |
| Old High German: | swerban | vb | to wipe off | W7 |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | svarf | n | file (tool) dust | W7 |
| Icelandic: | sverfa | vb | to file | ASD |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | af-swairban | vb | to delete, wipe out | ASD |
| bi-swairban | vb | to wipe | ASD | |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Greek: | syrein | vb | to drag | W7 |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| n | = | noun |
| 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) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
