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: 3e. u̯er-, u̯er-g̑h- 'to turn, press, wring, strangle'
Semantic Field(s): to Turn, to Press, to Grasp, Seize, Take Hold of
Indo-European Reflexes:
Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
English | ||||
Old English: | wearg, wearh | n.masc | wary; monster, evil spirit | ASD/IEW |
we(a)rg | adj | vile, evil, accursed, malignant | ASD | |
wrang | adj | wrong | W7 | |
wringan, wrang, wrungon, wrungen | vb.str | to wring | W7 | |
wyrgan | vb | to strangle | W7 | |
Middle English: | wari, weri | n | wary | OED |
wranglen | vb | to wrangle | W7 | |
wringen | vb | to wring | W7 | |
wrong | adj | wrong | W7 | |
English: | warg | n | wolf-like monster in Tolkien: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings | LRC |
wary | n.obs | felon, outlaw, villain, criminal | OED | |
wrangle | vb | to bicker, dispute angrily/peevishly | AHD/W7 | |
wring, wrung | vb.str | to twist/squeeze (esp. to extract liquid/moisture) | AHD/W7 | |
wrong | adj | sinful, immoral, not meeting moral standard | AHD/W7 | |
wrong | n | injury, unfair/unjust act | AHD/W7 | |
West Germanic | ||||
Old Frisian: | wergia | vb | to wring, worry, strangle, throttle | ASD |
Old Saxon: | war(a)g | adj/n | vile, evil, accursed; wary | IEW |
Old High German: | ringan | vb | to wring, struggle | W7 |
war(a)g, warc(h) | n.masc | wary | IEW/OED | |
wurgen | vb | to wring, worry, strangle | W7 | |
Middle High German: | warc | n | wary; monster | OED |
German: | ringen | vb | to wring, wrestle, struggle | LRC |
würgen | vb | to choke, retch, suffocate | LRC | |
North Germanic | ||||
Old Norse: | rangr | adj | wrong, awry | W7 |
vargr | n.masc | wolf, wary | IEW | |
Icelandic: | vargr | n.masc | wolf, wary | ASD |
vargur | n | fox | OED | |
Swedish: | varg | n.masc | wolf, wary | LRC |
East Germanic | ||||
Gothic: | launa-wargs | n.masc | unthankful person | ASD |
Baltic | ||||
Lithuanian: | ver̃sti | vb | to turn | LRC |
veržti | vb | to constrict | W7 | |
Latvian: | vērst | vb | to turn | LRC |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
Abbrev. | Meaning | |
---|---|---|
adj | = | adjective |
masc | = | masculine (gender) |
n | = | noun |
obs | = | obsolete |
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) |
IEW | = | Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959) |
LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
OED | = | James A.H. Murray et al: The Oxford English Dictionary (1933) |
W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |