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: 3a. u̯er-, u̯r̥mi-s, u̯r̥mo-s 'worm'
Semantic Field(s): Worm
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | wyrm, wurm, weorm | n.masc | worm | ASD |
| wyrm-tunge | n.wk.fem | bitter-spoken person | LRC | |
| Middle English: | worm | n | worm | W7 |
| English: | vermeil | n | vermilion | AHD/W7 |
| vermi- | pfx | worm | AHD/W7 | |
| vermicelli | n | pasta like spaghetti (but thinner) | AHD/W7 | |
| vermicular | adj | resembling worm in form/motion | AHD/W7 | |
| vermin | n | noxious/mischievous/disgusting small animal(s) | AHD/W7 | |
| worm | n | reptile, serpent, dragon; earthworm | AHD/W7 | |
| Wormtongue | prop.n | epithet for Grima in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings | LRC | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Dutch: | worm | n | worm | TLL |
| Old Saxon: | wurm | n.masc | worm | ASD |
| Old High German: | wurm | n.masc | worm | ASD/W7 |
| German: | Gewürm | n.coll | vermin | TLL |
| Wurm | n.masc | worm | LRC | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | ormr | n | worm: snake | KNW |
| Icelandic: | ormr | n.masc | worm | ASD |
| Danish: | orm | n | worm | TLL |
| Swedish: | orm | n | worm: snake | TLL |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | waurms | n.masc | worm | ASD |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | vermiculus | n.masc.dim | small worm | W7 |
| vermis | n.masc | worm | W7 | |
| Late Latin: | vermi- | pfx | vermi- | W7 |
| New Latin: | vermicularis | adj | vermicular | W7 |
| Middle French: | vermeil | adj | red | W7 |
| vermin | n.fem | vermin, worm(s) | W7 | |
| Italian: | vèrme | n.masc | worm | W7 |
| vermicello, vermicelli | n.masc | vermicelli | W7 | |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| coll | = | collective |
| dim | = | diminutive |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| pfx | = | prefix |
| prop | = | proper |
| wk | = | weak (inflection) |
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) |
| KNW | = | Gerhard Köbler: Altnordisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed. (2003) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| TLL | = | Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
