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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: gherdh-, and gherdh- 'to gird, enclose, encompass'

Semantic Fields: to Shut, Close; Circle

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
Celtic
Old Irish:	gort	n	seeded field	LRC
English
Old English:	geard	n.masc	yard, fence, enclosure	LRC
	gyrdan/girdan	vb.wk	to gird	RPN/ASD
	gyrdel(l)	n.masc	belt, girdle	GED/RPN
	ortgeard	n.masc	orchard	W7/ASD
Middle English:	gardin	n	garden	W7
	garth	n	garth	W7
	girdel	n	girdle	W7
	girden	vb	to strike, thrust	W7
	girten	vb	to girt	W7
	girth/gerth	n	girth	W7
	orchard	n	orchard	W7
	yard	n	yard, enclosure	W7
English:	Asgard	prop.n	realm of Aesir (Norse mythology)	LRC
	Bracegirdle	prop.n	hobbit surname in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	garden	n	plot of ground for cultivating herbs/fruits/flowers/vegetables	AHD/W7
	garth	n	small yard/enclosure	AHD/W7
	gird, girt	vb.wk	to encircle/bind with flexible band	AHD/W7
	girdle	n	garment that encircles/confines	AHD/W7
	girt	vb	to gird	AHD/W7
	girth	n	band/strap around animal's body for fastening things on back	AHD/W7
	Isengard	prop.n	Saruman's fortress in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	jardiniere	n	ornamental plant/flower stand	AHD/W7
	kindergarten	n	young children's class/school	AHD/W7
	Midgard	prop.n	world inhabited by humans (Germanic mythology)	LRC
	orchard	n	garden of fruit/nut trees	AHD/W7
	Treegarth	prop.n	Ent/Huorn enclosure in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	yard	n	court, small area open to sky/adjacent to building	AHD/W7
W-Germanic
Old Frisian:	garda	n.masc	yard, garden	ASD
	gerda	vb	to gird	LRC
	gerdel	n	girdle	GED
Middle Dutch:	gherde	n	girdle	GED
Dutch:	gærd(e)	n	yard, garden	ASD
	gordel	n	girdle	TLL
Old Saxon:	gard	n.masc	yard, garden	ASD
Middle Low German:	gorde	n	girdle	GED
Old High German:	gart(o)	n.masc	garden, enclosure	W7/ASD
	gurten	vb	to gird	RPN
	gurtil	n.str.masc	girdle	GED
	gurtila	n.fem	girdle	GED
Middle High German:	garte	n.masc	yard, garden	ASD
	gurt	n.str.masc	girdle	GED
German:	Garten	n.masc	garden	W7
	Gürtel	n.masc	girdle, belt	ASD
	gürten	vb	to gird	ASD
	Kindergarten	n.masc	kindergarten	W7
N-Germanic
Old Norse:	asgarðr	n	Asgard	W7
	garðr	n.masc	yard, enclosure; fence	LRC
	gjörþ	n	girth	W7
	mið-garðr	n.masc	Midgard, lit. middle-yard, middle-earth	W7
Old Icelandic:	gjorð	n.fem	girdle	GED
	gyrða	vb	to gird (with a belt)	RPN
	gyrðill	n	girdle	RPN
Icelandic:	garðr	n.masc	yard, garden	ASD
	gyrða	vb	to gird	ASD
	gyrðill	n.masc	purse, girdle	ASD
Danish:	gaard	n.masc/fem	yard, garden	ASD
Swedish:	gård	n.masc	yard, garden	ASD
E-Germanic
Gothic:	aurti-gards	n	orchard	ASD
	*bi-gairdan	vb.str.III	to gird (about)	GED/RPN
	gairda	n.fem	girdle	GED/RPN
	gards	n.str.masc	house, household	LRC
	midjun-gards	n.str.masc	Midgard, lit. middle-yard, middle-earth	LRC
	*uf-gairdan	vb	to gird up	GED/RPN
Italic
Oscan:	heriiad	vb.3.sg.imp	let him capture!	GED
Latin:	urbs, urbis	n.fem	city	LRC
French:	jardinière	n.fem	female gardener; suspended pot for plants	W7
Baltic
Lithuanian:	gardas	n	fence; enclosure	RPN
Slavic
Polish:	gród	n	castle, palace	LRC
Czech:	hrad	n	castle, palace	LRC
Serbo-Croatian:	grâd	n	castle, palace	LRC
Old Church Slavonic:	gradu'	n.masc	city, fortification	LRC
	gradi'ci'	n.masc	town, garden	LRC
Bulgarian:	gradu'	n	castle, palace	LRC
Russian:	gorod	n	town, city	AHD
	-grad	n.sfx	city	AHD
Albanian
Albanian:	dorë	n	hand	GED
	gardh/garth	n	hedge	GED/RPN
Hellenic
Hesychius' Greek Lexicon:	korthis	n	heap	LRC
Greek:	cheír	n	hand	GED
Anatolian
Hittite:	gurtas	n	fortress, fortification	LRC
Armenian
Armenian:	jern	n	hand	GED
Iranian
Avestan:	guruða-	n	house, dwelling; inhabited cave	LRC
Indic
Sanskrit:	grhá-h	n	house, dwelling	GED/RPN
	hárati	vb	to take	GED
Tocharian
Tocharian B:	sar	n	hand	GED
Tocharian A:	tsar	n	hand	GED

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
3	=	3rd person
III	=	class 3
fem	=	feminine (gender)
imp	=	imperative (mood)
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
prop	=	proper
sfx	=	suffix
sg	=	singular (number)
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)
GED	=	Winfred P. Lehmann: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986)
LRC	=	Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
RPN	=	Allan R. Bomhard: Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic (2002)
TLL	=	Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944)
W7	=	Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

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