The University of Texas at Austin; College of Liberal Arts

Hans C. Boas, Director :: PCL 5.556, 1 University Station S5490 :: Austin, TX 78712 :: 512-471-4566

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.

Fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings may appreciate the source & meaning tips that pop up when the mouse pointer hovers over a non-obvious word or name that he coined from Indo-European (usually Old English or Old Norse) stock. But only reflexes of PIE etyma can be included, and these tend to concentrate in the vocabulary of Rohan and the Shire.

All reflex pages are currently under active construction; as time goes on, corrections may be made and/or more etyma & reflexes may be added.

Note: this page is for systems/browsers lacking Unicode^® support, or having less than full Unicode 2.0 font support. Versions of this page rendered in alternate character sets are available via links (see Unicode 3 and Unicode 2) in the left margin.

Pokorny Etymon: 1. bha-, bho-, bhu- 'to shine, glisten'

Semantic Field: to Shine, Glisten

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
Celtic
Old Irish:	ban	adj	white	GED
English
Old English:	beacen/bec(e)n/becun	n.neut	sign, token, beacon	CDC/ASD
	berie/ber(i)ge/berigie	n.fem	berry	W7/ASD
	biecnan/becnian	vb	to beckon	W7/CDC
	bonian	vb.wk	to polish	GED
Middle English:	baner(e)	n	banner	MEV/W7
	baneret	n	banneret	W7
	beken(e)	n	beacon	W7
	beknen/becnen/beknien	vb	to beckon	W7/CDC
	berie/bery(e)	n	berry	W7/CDC
	boye	n	buoy	W7
	epiphanie	n	epiphany	W7
	fantasie	n	fantasy	W7
	fantasme	n	phantasm	W7
	fanto(s)me	n	phantom	W7
	mulberie/murberie	n	mulberry	W7
	panten	vb	to pant	W7
English:	banderilla	n	barbed decorated dart used in bullfight	AHD
	banderole	n	long forked flag	AHD/W7
	bandoleer/bandolier	n	belt worn over shoulder across chest	AHD/W7
	banner	n	staff-hung cloth marking rallying point	AHD/W7
	banneret	n	knight leading under his own banner	AHD/W7
	beacon	n	signal fire (usually on a high place)	AHD/W7
	beckon	vb	to summon via signal	AHD/W7
	berry	n	small pulpy fruit	AHD/W7
	buoy	n	float	AHD/W7
	diaphanous	adj	fine in texture, nearly transparent	AHD/W7
	emphasis	n	forcefulness in expression conveying importance	AHD/W7
	epiphany	n	feast celebrating Christ's first appearance to Gentiles	AHD/W7
	fantasize	vb	to fancy, imagine, hallucinate	LRC
	fantasy	n	hallucination	AHD/W7
	frambesia	n	yaws: chronic infectious disease	AHD
	Goldberry	prop.n	Bombadil's wife in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	gooseberry	n	spiny European shrub with edible berries	AHD
	hierophant	n	priest in ancient Greece	AHD/W7
	mulberry	n	tree with edible purple berrylike fruit	AHD/W7
	pant	vb	to breathe quickly/spasmodically in labored manner	AHD/W7
	Phaethon	prop.n	son of Helios the Sun (Greek mythology)	LRC
	-phane	n.sfx	substance having certain quality	AHD/W7
	phanerogam	n	spermatophyte, flowering seed plant	AHD/W7
	phantasm	n	product of fantasy	AHD/W7
	phantasmagoria	n	optical illusion	AHD/W7
	phantom	n	apparition, something sensed but insubstantial	AHD/W7
	phase	n	state in a recurring cycle	AHD/W7
	phen(o)-	pfx	re: observable characteristic	AHD
	phenomenon	n	observable fact/event	AHD/W7
	phos-	pfx	light, luminous impression	AHD/W7
	phosphene	n	luminous impression due to retinal excitation	AHD/W7
	phot	n	cgs unit of illumination	AHD/W7
	phot(o)-	pfx	light, radiant energy	AHD
	photon	n	quantum of light/radiant energy	W7
	sycophant	n	parasite, servile self-seeking flatterer	AHD/W7
	theophany	n	visible manifestation of deity	AHD/W7
	tiffany	n	a kind of sheer silk gauze	AHD/W7
British English:	fantasise	vb	to fantasize	LRC
W-Germanic
Old Frisian:	baken/beken	n	sign, beacon	CDC
Middle Dutch:	bere/beze	n	berry	CDC
Dutch:	baak	n	sign, beacon	CDC
	bes	n.fem	berry	ASD
	bezie	n	berry	CDC
	framboos	n	raspberry	TLL
Old Saxon:	beri	n.neut	berry	ASD
	bokan	n	sign, beacon	CDC
	boknian	vb	to beckon	CDC
Middle Low German:	bere	n	berry	CDC
Low German:	bake	n	sign, beacon	CDC
	bonen	vb.wk	to scour, polish	GED
Old High German:	beri	n.neut	berry	W7/ASD
	bouhhan/pouchan	n	sign, beacon	CDC/ASD
	bouhnen	vb	to beckon	CDC
Middle High German:	ber(e)	n	berry	CDC
	bouchen	n	sign, beacon	CDC
	büenen	vb.wk	to scour, polish	GED
German:	Bake	n.fem	sign, beacon, landmark	CDC
	Beere	n.fem	berry	LRC
	Fantasie	n.fem	fantasy	LRC
N-Germanic
Old Norse:	bakna	vb	to beckon	CDC
	ber	n.neut	berry	ASD
Old Icelandic:	benda	vb.wk	to give a sign	GED
Icelandic:	bakn	n	sign, beacon	CDC
	ber	n	berry	CDC
Danish:	bær	n	berry	CDC
	kirsebær	n	cherry	TLL
Swedish:	bär	n	berry	CDC
	körsbär	n	cherry	TLL
E-Germanic
Gothic:	*bandwa	n.fem	sign	GED
	bandwjan	vb.wk	to indicate, give sign	GED
	bandwo	n.fem	sign	W7/GED
	basi	n.neut	berry	ASD
Italic
Latin:	Phaethon	n.masc	Phaethon	W7
	phantasma	n.fem	phantasm	W7
	sycophanta	n.fem	swindler, informer, sycophant	W7
Vulgar Latin:	*bandaria	n	banner	AHD
	phantasio, phantasiare	vb	to fantasize: hallucinate	W7
Late Latin:	bandum	n	banner	AHD
	epiphania	n.fem	epiphany	W7
	hierophanta	n.masc	priest	W7
	phaenomenon	n.neut	phenomenon	W7
	theophania	n.fem	theophany	W7
Middle Latin:	*bandaria	n	banner	CDC
	bandum	n	flag, standard	CDC
Medieval Latin:	bandum	n.neut	flag	GED
	diaphanus	adj	see-through, diaphanous	W7
	throphania	n.fem	theophany	W7
New Latin:	phasis	n.fem	(lunar) phase, appearance of star	W7
Portuguese:	bandeira	n	banner	CDC
Spanish:	bandera	n.fem	banner	GED
	banderilla	n.fem	banderilla	LRC
	banderola	n.dim	little banner	CDC
	bandolera	n.fem	bandoleer	LRC
Old French:	banere	n.masc	banner	W7
	baneret	n.masc	banneret	W7
	banerolle	n.dim	little banner	CDC
	fantasme	n.masc	phantasm, phantasmagoria	W7
	ori-flame/orie-flambe	n.fem	red banner (of Charlemagne)	GED
Middle French:	bandouliere	n	bandolier	W7
	epiphanie	n.fem	epiphany, apparition of deity	W7
	fantosme	n.masc	ghost, phantom	W7
	pantaisier	vb	to fantasize: hallucinate	W7
French:	banderole	n.fem	banner	W7
	bandière	n	banner	CDC
	bandoulière	n	bandoleer	AHD
	ban(n)ière	n.fem	banner	GED/CDC
	phanérogame	adj	seed plant, flowering plant	W7
	phantasmagorie	n.fem	phantasmagoria	W7
	phantasme	n.masc	phantasm	W7
Old Occitan:	bandieira/bannieira	n	banner	CDC
Italian:	banda	n.fem	troop, division	GED
	bander(u)ola	n.fem.dim	pennant, streamer, little banner	W7/CID/CDC
	bandiera	n.fem	banner	GED
	bando	n.masc	summons	GED
Albanian
Gheg:	bâj	vb	to do, make	IEW
Tosk:	bënj	vb	to do, make	IEW
Hellenic
Greek:	diaphainein	vb	to show through	W7
	diaphanês	adj	transparent; red-hot	LRC
	diaphanes	adj	diaphanous	W7
	emphainein	vb	to indicate	W7
	emphasis	n.fem	emphasis, exposition	W7
	epiphaneia	n.fem	appearance, epiphany	W7
	hierophantes	n.masc	hierophant	W7
	sykophantes	adj	informer	W7
	Phaethon	n.masc	Phaethon	W7
	phainesthai	vb	to appear	W7
	phainomenon	vb.ptc.pass	appearing	W7
	phainomenos	vb.ptc.pass	appearing	W7
	phaínô	vb	to show	GED
	-phaneia	afx	appearance	W7
	phanerós	adj	bright, visible	GED
	phanê	n	torch	GED
	-phanes	afx	appearing	W7
	phanós	adj	bright, glad	RPN
	phantasia	n.fem	appearance, imagination	W7
	phantasioun	vb	to have hallucinations	W7
	phantasma	n.neut	hallucination	W7
	phasis	n.fem	(lunar) phase, appearance of star	W7
	phatazein	vb	to present to the mind	W7
	pháô	vb	to shine, give light	RPN
	pháôs	n	light	RPN
	phônê	n.fem	voice, sound	LRC
	phos, photis	n.neut	light	W7
Late Greek:	epiphania	n.fem	appearance, epiphany	W7
	theophan(e)ia	n.fem	theophany	W7
Medieval Greek:	bándon	n	flag	GED
Armenian
Classical Armenian:	banam	vb	to open	LRC
Indic
Sanskrit:	bhati	vb	to shine, appear	GED
	bhanam	n	shining, appearance	GED
	bhamas	n	shine, light	GED
	bhalam	n	radiance	GED

Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:

Abbrev.		Meaning
adj	=	adjective
afx	=	affix
dim	=	diminutive
fem	=	feminine (gender)
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
neut	=	neuter (gender)
pass	=	passive (voice)
pfx	=	prefix
prop	=	proper
ptc	=	participle
sfx	=	suffix
vb	=	verb
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)
CDC	=	W.D. Whitney and B.E. Smith: The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (1889-1911)
CID	=	Cassell's Italian Dictionary (1958)
GED	=	Winfred P. Lehmann: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986)
IEW	=	Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959)
LRC	=	Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
MEV	=	J.R.R. Tolkien: A Middle English Vocabulary (1922)
RPN	=	Allan R. Bomhard: Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic (2002)
TLL	=	Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944)
W7	=	Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

Nearby etyma: previous | next