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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: ger-, geru-, gre- 'to rub; rotten; to age, ripen; grain'

Semantic Fields: to Rub; to Spoil; Grain (generic, British Corn)

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
English
Old English:	ceorl	n	ceorl, carl, fellow	W7
	corn	n.neut	corn	LRC
	cyrin/ceren	n.fem	churn	W7/ASD
	cyrn(e)l	n	kernel	W7/ASD
Middle English:	bred-corn	n	lit. bread-grain	MEV
	carl	n	carl	W7
	churl	n	churl	W7
	chyrne	n	churn	W7
	corn/curn	n	corn	W7
	garner	n	garner	W7
	garnett	n	garnet (tackle)	W7
	grain	n	grain	W7
	grange	n	grange	W7
	grenat	n	garnet (semiprecious stone)	W7
	kernel	n	kernel	W7
	poumgarnet	n	pomegranate	W7
English:	ageratum	n	tropical American composite herb	AHD/W7
	Carl	prop.n	hobbit name in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	carl	n	common man (of the people)	AHD/W7
	carling	n	part of ship deck framing	AHD/W7
	Ceorl	prop.n	Rohan rider in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	ceorl	n	free man of lowest rank	W7
	churl	n	ceorl	AHD/W7
	churn	n	vessel for making butter	IEW
	corn	n	grain, small hard seed	AHD/W7
	einkorn	n	early cultivated single-grain wheat	AHD
	filigree	n	ornamental work of fine gold/silver/copper wire	AHD/W7
	garner	n	granary	AHD/W7
	garnet	n	semiprecious stone: more/less transparent (red) silicate mineral	AHD/W7
	garnet	n	tackle for lifting cargo on ship	AHD/W7
	geriatric	adj	re: age/aging	AHD/W7
	geront(o)-	pfx	old age	AHD/W7
	grain	n	small hard seed(s)	AHD/W7
	gram	n	leguminous plant grown esp. for seed	AHD/W7
	granadilla	n	passionflower fruit	AHD
	granary	n	place to store threshed grain	AHD/W7
	grange	n	barn, granary	AHD/W7
	grani-	pfx	grain, seeds	AHD/W7
	granita	n	chipped ice with flavorings	AHD
	granite	n	very hard, visibly crystalline igneous rock	AHD/W7
	granule	n	small particle	AHD/W7
	grenade	n	container fitted with priming/bursting charges	AHD/W7
	grenadine	n	plain/figured open-weave fabric	AHD/W7
	kernel	n	fruit seed	AHD/W7
	pomegranate	n	thick-skinned reddish berry with many seeds in crimson pulp	AHD/W7
British English:	corn	n	maize; (organic) granule	GED
Scots English:	curn	n	corn	W7
W-Germanic
Old Frisian:	korn	n	corn	ASD
	tzerle/tzirle	n	man	ASD
Frisian:	tzsierl	n	man	ASD
Dutch:	karel	n.masc	carl	ASD
	kern	n.fem	kernel	ASD
	koren	n.neut	corn	ASD
Old Saxon:	korn(i)/kurni	n.neut	corn	ASD
Old High German:	char(a)l	n.masc	carl	ASD
	kerno	n.masc	kernel	ASD
	korn	n	corn	GED
Middle High German:	kerl	n.masc	carl	ASD
	kërn(e)	n.masc	kernel	ASD
	korn	n.neut	corn	ASD
German:	Einkorn	n.neut	einkorn, lit. single-grain	LRC
	Kerl	n.masc	carl	ASD
	Kern	n.masc	kernel	ASD
	Korn	n.neut	corn, cereal	ASD
N-Germanic
Old Norse:	kerling	n	carling, lit. old woman	W7
	korn	n	corn	W7
Old Icelandic:	karl	n	carl, (old) man	RPN
Icelandic:	karl	n.masc	carl	ASD
	kjarni	n.masc	kernel	ASD
	korn	n.neut	corn	ASD
Danish:	kjerne	n.masc/fem	kernel	ASD
	korn	n.neut	corn	ASD
Old Swedish:	krootas	vb	to break to pieces	GED
Swedish:	korn	n.neut	corn	ASD
	kärna	n.fem	kernel	ASD
E-Germanic
Gothic:	*ga-kroton	vb.wk.II	to break to pieces	GED
	kaurn(o)	n.neut	corn	GED/ASD
Crimean Gothic:	*korn/kor	n	corn	CGo
Italic
Latin:	glarea	n.fem	sand, gravel	GED
	granarium	n.neut	granary	W7
	granata	n.fem	pomegranate	W7
	granatus	vb.ptc	seedy	W7
	granum	n.neut	grain, seed, kernel	GED
Late Latin:	granulum	n.neut.dim	small grain	W7
Medieval Latin:	granica	n.fem	grange	W7
New Latin:	Ageratum	n.masc	genus of herbs	W7
Portuguese:	grão	n.masc	grain	W7
Old French:	grenier	n.masc	granary	W7
Old North French:	calingue	n.fem	old woman	W7
Middle French:	grain	n.masc	cereal grain	W7
	graine	n.fem	grain, seed	W7
	grange	n.fem	barn	W7
	grenade	n.fem	grenade; pomegranate	W7
	grenat	adj/n.masc	(re:) precious stone, red like pomegranate	W7
French:	carlingue	n.fem	keelson	W7
	filigrane	n.masc	filigree	W7
	grenade	n.fem	grenade; pomegranate	W7
	grenadine	n.fem	grenadine	W7
Italian:	filigrana	n.fem	filigree, watermark	W7
	granire	vb	to granulate	W7
	granito	adj	seeded, full of grain	W7/CID
	grano	n.masc	grain	W7
Baltic
Lithuanian:	zìrnis	n	pea	GED
Slavic
Old Church Slavonic:	zrelu'	adj	ripe	RPN
	zreti	vb	to ripen, mature	GED/RPN
Hellenic
Greek:	ageratos	adj	ageless	W7
	geraiós	adj	old	RPN
	gérôn	adj/n.masc	old; old man	GED/RPN
	gêras	n.neut	old age	RPN
	gêráô	vb	to grow old	GED
Armenian
Armenian:	cer	adj	old	RPN
Iranian
Avestan:	zar-	vb	to grow old, waste away	RPN
Indic
Sanskrit:	grava	n	grindstone	GED
	jára-h	adj	becoming old, wearing out	RPN
	jaraná-h	adj	old, decayed	RPN
	járat-	adj	old; worn; dry (herbs)	RPN
	járati	vb	to grow old, wear out	RPN
	járant-	adj	old, sickly	GED
	jara	n	old age	RPN
	jirná-h/jurná-h	adj	old, worn out, withered	RPN
	jiryati	vb	to become feeble	GED

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
II	=	class 2
adj	=	adjective
dim	=	diminutive
fem	=	feminine (gender)
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
neut	=	neuter (gender)
pfx	=	prefix
prop	=	proper
ptc	=	participle
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)
CGo	=	MacDonald Stearns, Jr: Crimean Gothic (1978)
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)
W7	=	Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

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