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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: bhagó-s 'beech (tree)'

Semantic Fields: Beech; Tree, Oak

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
English
Old English:	bece/bæce/beoce	n.wk.fem	beech	GED/ASD
	boc/bec	n.str.fem	book(s), record(s)	GED
	boc	n.wk.fem	beech	GED
	bocere	n.str.masc	writer	GED
	boc-hus	n.neut	library, lit. book-house	MEV
	boc-stæf	n.str.neut	letter (of alphabet)	GED
Middle English:	beche	n	beech	W7
	boc/bok(e)/book(e)	n	book	MEV/W7
	boc-hous	n	library, lit. book-house	MEV
English:	beech	n	grey/white smooth-barked hardwood tree	AHD/W7
	Beechbone	prop.n	Ent name in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	book	n	written work with pages bound together	AHD/W7
	buckwheat	n	Asian plant with small edible triangular seeds	AHD/W7
Scots English:	buik/beuk/buke	n	book	CDC
W-Germanic
Old Frisian:	bok	n.str.fem	book	GED
Frisian:	boek	n.neut	book	ASD
	bok	n.fem	book	ASD
Old Dutch:	boeke	n	beech	CDC
Middle Dutch:	boeck	n	book	CDC
Dutch:	beuk(e)	n.fem	beech	ASD
	boec	n	beech	W7
	boek	n.neut	book	CDC/ASD
	boekweit	n	buckwheat	W7
Flemish:	boek	n	beech	CDC
Old Saxon:	bok	n.str.fem/neut	book, writing-tablet	GED
	bok(ia)	n.wk.fem	beech	GED
	bok-stabo	n.wk.masc	letter (of alphabet)	GED
	bok-staf	n.str.masc	letter (of alphabet)	GED
Old Low German:	bok	n	book	CDC
	boke/bóke	n	beech	CDC
Low German:	baike	n	beech	CDC
	book	n	book	CDC
Old High German:	bok	n	beech	CDC
	buocha	n.wk.fem	beech	GED
	buoh/boh	n.str.neut	book	GED/ASD
	buohha	n	beech tree	W7
	buohhari	n.str.masc	scribe	GED
	buoh-stap	n.str.masc	letter (of alphabet)	GED
Middle High German:	buoch	n.neut	book	CDC/ASD
	buoche	n	beech	CDC
	buoch-stabe	n.wk.masc	letter (of alphabet)	GED
	Buohhunna	prop.n	Beech Wood	GED
German:	Buch	n.neut	book	CDC
	Buche	n.fem	beech	ASD
	Buchstabe	n.masc	letter (of alphabet)	LRC
N-Germanic
Old Norse:	bók	n.str.fem	book	LRC
Old Icelandic:	bok, bøkr	n.str.fem	book(s)	GED
	bok	n.str.fem	beech	GED
	bok-stafr	n.str.masc	letter (of alphabet)	GED
Icelandic:	baukr	n	box	GED
	beyki	n	beech forest	GED
	bok	n.fem	book	CDC
Danish:	bog	n	book	CDC
	bøg	n	beech	CDC/TLL
Swedish:	bok	n	beech	CDC
	bok	n.fem	book	CDC/ASD
E-Germanic
Gothic:	bok	n.neut	letter (of alphabet)	CDC
	*boka	n	beech	CDC
	bok(a)	n.fem/neut.pl	(letters comprising) book, writing, document	CDC
	boka	n.fem	book, letter (of alphabet)	GED
	bokareis	n.masc	scribe, writer	GED
Italic
Latin:	fagus	n.fem	beech(-tree)	GED
Middle Latin:	Boconia	prop.n	Beech Wood	GED
Baltic
Lithuanian:	bùkas/bukas	n	beech	GED
Slavic
Polish:	buk	n	beech	CDC
	buk	n	beech	GED
Czech:	buk	n	beech	CDC
Serbian:	bukva	n	beech	CDC
Old Church Slavonic:	bukva	n.fem	book	ASD
	bukvamu'	n.fem.dat.pl	letters	GED
	bukvari	n	abecedarium	CDC
	bukui/bukuve	n	beech	CDC
	bukui	n	letter	CDC
	bukui	n.pl	(letters comprising) writing	CDC
	buku'vi	n.fem.pl	epistle, document	GED
Bulgarian:	buk	n	beech	CDC
Russian:	buz	n	alder	GED
	buziná	n.fem	alder	GED
	bukva	n	letter	CDC
	buku	n	beech	CDC
Albanian
Albanian:	bungë	n	oak	GED
Hellenic
Doric:	phagós	n	oak, acorn	GED
Attic:	phageîn	vb	to eat	GED
	phêgós	n.fem	oak, acorn	GED
Indic
Sanskrit:	bháksati	vb	to eat	GED
	bhájati	vb	to distribute	GED

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
dat	=	dative (case)
fem	=	feminine (gender)
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
neut	=	neuter (gender)
pl	=	plural (number)
prop	=	proper
str	=	strong (inflection)
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)
GED	=	Winfred P. Lehmann: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986)
LRC	=	Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
MEV	=	J.R.R. Tolkien: A Middle English Vocabulary (1922)
TLL	=	Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944)
W7	=	Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

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