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)

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