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: tem(ə)- 'dark'
Semantic Field(s): Darkness, Shade, Shadow, Dark in Color
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | ||||
| Old Irish: | temel | n | darkness | RPN |
| English | ||||
| Middle English: | temeryte | n | temerity | W7 |
| English: | temerarious | adj | brash, marked by temerity | AHD/W7 |
| temerity | n | rashness, recklessness, foolhardy/unreasonable contempt for danger/opposition | AHD/W7 | |
| Tenebrae | prop.n | celebration re: last 3 days of Christian Holy Week | LRC | |
| tenebrionid | n | darkling beetle | AHD | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Saxon: | þimm | n | dark | RPN |
| Low German: | dumper | adj | gloomy | RPN |
| Old High German: | demar | n | darkness | W7 |
| Middle High German: | dunster | n | dark(ness) | RPN |
| German: | düster | adj | dark, gloomy; sad, dismal | LRC |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | temerarius | adj | fearless, adventurous | W7 |
| temere | adv | randomly | W7 | |
| temeritas | n.fem | temerity | W7 | |
| tenebrae | n.fem.pl | darkness | RPN | |
| tenebriō | n | one who avoids light | AHD | |
| tenebrōsus | adj | dark, gloomy | CLD | |
| Medieval Latin: | Tenebrae | prop.n.fem.pl | Tenebrae, darkness | W7 |
| Baltic | ||||
| Lithuanian: | tamsà | n.fem | darkness | LRC |
| tamsùs, tamsì | adj | dark | LRC | |
| Latvian: | tumsa | n | darkness | RPN |
| Slavic | ||||
| Old Church Slavonic: | tьma | n | darkness | RPN |
| Iranian | ||||
| Avestan: | təmah- | n | darkness | RPN |
| Indic | ||||
| Sanskrit: | támas- | n | gloom, darkness | RPN |
| tamas | n | temerity | W7 | |
| támisrā | n | dark night | RPN | |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| adv | = | adverb(ial) |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| pl | = | plural (number) |
| prop | = | proper |
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) |
| CLD | = | Cassell's Latin Dictionary (1959, rev. 1968) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| RPN | = | Allan R. Bomhard: Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic (2002) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
