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: u̯ek-ti- 'whit, thing'
Semantic Field(s): Form, Shape (n)
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | ā-wiht, ā-(wy)ht, ā-(w)uht | pron | aught, lit. a whit | ASD/W7 |
| nā-wiht, nā-(w)ht, nā-uht | pron | naught, lit. no whit | ASD/W7 | |
| nō-(wi)ht | pron | nought, lit. no whit | ASD/W7 | |
| wiht | n.neut | whit, wight | LRC | |
| Middle English: | au(g)ht, aght, auzht | pron | aught | CDC/W7 |
| naught, nought | pron | naught/nought | W7 | |
| not | adv/pron | not; nought | W7 | |
| wi(g)ht, wyght | n | whit, wight | W7 | |
| English: | aught | pron | anything, a whit | AHD/W7 |
| Barrow-wight | prop.n | tomb-wraith in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings | LRC | |
| naught, nought | pron | nothing, not aught | AHD/W7 | |
| not | adv | negative: without, absence/reverse of | AHD | |
| whit | n | bit, thing, smallest part(icle) | AHD/W7 | |
| wight | n | wraith, creature, living being | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | ā-(w)et | pron | aught, lit. a whit | CDC |
| nā-wet | pron | naught, lit. no whit | ASD | |
| Dutch: | iets | pron | aught | CDC |
| wicht | n | wight, child | LRC | |
| Old Saxon: | ēo-wiht | pron | aught, lit. a whit | CDC |
| neō-wiht | pron | naught, lit. no whit | ASD | |
| wiht | n.masc | whit, wight, demon | ASD/CDC | |
| Middle Low German: | i(e)ht, iewet, iet | pron | aught, lit. a whit | CDC |
| Old High German: | eo-wiht, io-wiht, ie-wiht | pron | aught, lit. a whit | CDC |
| neō-wiht | pron | naught, lit. no whit | ASD | |
| wiht, wihd | n.neut | whit, wight; nature | ASD/CDC/W7 | |
| German: | Wicht | n.masc | wight, imp, dwarf, goblin | LRC |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | vættr | n.fem | wight, (supernatural) being | LRC |
| Icelandic: | vætta | n | whit | CDC |
| våttr, vættr | n.fem | whit, wight | ASD/CDC | |
| Danish: | vætte | n | wight, elf | CDC |
| Swedish: | vätt(er) | n | wight, elf | LRC |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | waiht | n.neut | whit, wight | CDC |
| waíhts | n.str.fem | whit, wight | LRC | |
| Slavic | ||||
| Old Slavic: | veštĭ | n | thing | W7 |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Greek: | εὑρίσκω | vb | to find | LRC |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adv | = | adverb(ial) |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| neut | = | neuter (gender) |
| pron | = | pronoun |
| prop | = | proper |
| str | = | strong (inflection) |
| 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) |
| CDC | = | W.D. Whitney and B.E. Smith: The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (1889-1911) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
