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: su̯esor- 'sister'
Semantic Field(s): Sister
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | sweostor | n.fem | sister | W7 |
| Middle English: | cosin | n | cousin | W7 |
| sister, suster | n | sister | W7 | |
| English: | cousin | n | child of one's aunt/uncle | AHD/W7 |
| sister | n | daughter of one's parents | AHD/W7 | |
| sororal | adj | sisterly, re: sister | AHD/W7 | |
| sororicide | n | killing of one's sister | AHD | |
| sorority | n | club of girls/women | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | swester, suster | n | sister | ASD |
| Dutch: | zuster | n | sister | LRC |
| Old Saxon: | swestar | n | sister | ASD |
| Old High German: | swestar | n | sister | ASD |
| German: | Geschwister | n.pl | siblings | TLL |
| Kusine | n | female cousin | TLL | |
| Schwester | n.fem | sister | LRC | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | systir | n.fem | sister | W7 |
| Icelandic: | systir | n | sister | ASD |
| Danish: | kusine | n | female cousin | TLL |
| søkende | n.pl | siblings | TLL | |
| søster | n | sister | TLL | |
| Swedish: | kusin | n | cousin | TLL |
| syskon | n.pl | siblings | TLL | |
| syster | n | sister | TLL | |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | swistar | n | sister | ASD |
| Crimean Gothic: | *schwester, schuuester | n | sister | CGo |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | consobrinus | n.masc | cousin | W7 |
| sobrinus | n.masc | cousin on mother's side | W7 | |
| soror | n.fem | sister | W7 | |
| Medieval Latin: | sororitas | n.fem | sisterhood | W7 |
| Old French: | cosin | n.masc | cousin | W7 |
| Baltic | ||||
| Lithuanian: | sesuõ | n.fem | sister | LRC |
| Slavic | ||||
| Old Church Slavonic: | sestra | n.fem | sister | LRC |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| pl | = | plural (number) |
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) |
| CGo | = | MacDonald Stearns, Jr: Crimean Gothic (1978) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| TLL | = | Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
