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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: 1. ker-, keru- : kra-, kerei-, kereu- 'horn, head, upper part of body'

Semantic Fields: Horn; Head

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
Celtic
Middle Irish:	corn	n	drinking-horn	GED
Breton:	corn	n	drinking-horn	GED
	karn	n	hoof of unicorn	GED
Cornish:	carow	n	deer	GED
	corn	n	drinking-horn	GED
	karn	n	hoof of unicorn	GED
Welsh:	carw	n	deer	GED
	corn	n	drinking-horn	GED
	karn	n	hoof of unicorn	GED
Gaulish:	*carnon	n	horn; trumpet	GED
	carnuatus	adj	horned	GED
English
Old English:	an-horn(a)	n.wk.masc	unicorn, lit. one-horn	GED
	heor(o)t	n.masc	hart, stag	RPN/ASD
	horn	n.str.neut	horn	RPN
	hyrne	n.fem	horn, angle, corner	ASD
	hyrnet(u)	n.fem	hornet	W7/ASD
Middle English:	Capricorne	prop.n	Capricorn	W7
	cerastes	n	cerastes	W7
	corne	n	corn	W7
	corner	n	corner	W7
	cornet	n	cornet	W7
	hernet	n	hornet	W7
	hert	n	hart	W7
	horn	n	horn	W7
	Monoceros	prop.n	Monoceros	AHD
	rinoceros	n	rhinoceros	W7
	unicorne	n	unicorn	W7
English:	alpenhorn	n	straight wooden Swiss horn 7-15 feet long	AHD/W7
	althorn	n	alto member of saxhorn family	AHD/W7
	bicornuate	adj	re: 2 horns/horn-shaped processes	AHD/W7
	Capricorn	prop.n	southern zodiacal constellation	LRC
	carat	n	unit of weight (for gold/jewels)	AHD/CDC
	carotene	n	orange/red crystalline hydrocarbon pigment	AHD/W7
	carotid	adj	re: chief artery (pair) through neck to head	AHD/W7
	carrot	n	biennial herb/root vegetable	AHD/W7
	cerastes	n	venomous viper	AHD/W7
	ceratopsian	n	herbivorous ornithischian dinosaur	AHD
	cerebellum	n	large dorsal part of brain	AHD/W7
	cerebrum	n	brain, encephalon	AHD/CDC
	cervine	adj	re: deer	AHD/W7
	cervix	n	neck	AHD/W7
	cheer	n	joy, gaiety, lightness of mood/spirits	AHD
	chelicera	n	anterior arachnid appendage	AHD/W7
	corn	n	local hardening/thickening of epidermis	AHD/W7
	cornea	n	transparent part of eyeball covering iris/pupil	AHD/W7
	corneous	adj	horny	AHD/W7
	corner	n	angle, point where lines/edges/sides meet	AHD/W7
	cornet	n	valved brass wind instrument resembling trumpet	AHD/W7
	corniculate	adj	re: small horn-shaped processes	AHD/W7
	cornification	n	conversion of body cells into hair/nails/feathers	AHD
	cornu	n	horn, part/structure resembling horn	AHD
	corydalis	n	herb of fumitory family	AHD/W7
	corymb	n	flat-topped inflorescence	AHD/W7
	corynebacterium	n	rod-shaped bacterium	AHD
	coryphaeus	n	chorus leader	AHD/W7
	cranium	n	skull	AHD/W7
	criosphinx	n	sphinx with ram's head	AHD
	flugelhorn	n	bugle with valves	AHD
	hart	n	stag, male red deer	AHD/W7
	hartebeest	n	large African antelope	AHD
	Horn	prop.n	Rohan rider in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	horn	n	bony process on upper part of head; instrument made thereof	AHD/W7
	hornbeam	n	(type of) hardwood tree	AHD
	hornblende	n	amphibolic mineral in igneous rock	AHD
	Hornburg	prop.n	Rohan fortress in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	hornet	n	large social wasp	AHD/W7
	hornfels	n	fine-grained metamorphic rock	AHD
	Hornrock	prop.n	Hornburg site in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	keratin	n	tough insoluble protein in horn (etc.)	AHD
	lamellicorn	adj	re: antennae ending in flat plates	AHD/W7
	longhorn	n	Texas cattle breed	LRC
	longicorn	adj	re: long-horned beetles	AHD/W7
	migraine	n	recurrent severe headache	AHD/W7
	Monoceros	prop.n	Unicorn (northern constellation)	AHD
	olecranon	n	process of ulna projecting behind elbow joint	AHD/W7
	Redhorn	prop.n	Misty Mountains peak in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	rhinoceros	n	thick-skinned herbivorous perissodactyl mammal	AHD/W7
	rinderpest	n	acute infectious febrile cattle disease	AHD/W7
	saveloy	n	ready-cooked dry sausage	AHD/W7
	serval	n	long-legged African wildcat	AHD/W7
	Starkhorn	prop.n	Rohan mountain in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	tarboosh	n	brimless felt cap with silk tassel	AHD
	Thrihyrne	prop.n	Helm's Deep mountain in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	triceratops	n	herbivorous dinosaur of Cretaceous Period	AHD
	tricorn	adj	re: 3 horns/corners	AHD/W7
	unicorn	n	fabulous animal depicted with single horn in forehead	AHD/W7
W-Germanic
Old Frisian:	herne	n	horn, corner, angle	ASD
	horn	n.str.neut	horn	GED
Middle Dutch:	hertebeest	n	hartebeest, lit. horn-beast	AHD
Dutch:	hersen	n	brain; crown, top of head	IEW/GED
	hoorn	n	horn	TLL
Afrikaans:	hartebeest	n.obs	hartebeest	AHD
Old Saxon:	hirot	n	hart	GED
	hoh-hurnid	adj	having large horns	GED
	horn	n.str.neut	horn	RPN
Old High German:	althorn	n	althorn	AHD
	ein-hurno	n.wk.masc	unicorn, lit. one-horn	GED
	hirni	n.str.neut	brain	GED
	hiruz	n.str.masc	hart	GED
	horn	n.str.neut	horn	RPN
	hornaz/hornuz	n	hornet	W7/ASD
	hrind	n.neut	ox	AHD
	hurnen	vb.wk	to equip with horns	GED
Middle High German:	althorn	n	althorn	AHD
German:	Alpenhorn	n.neut	alpenhorn	W7
	Althorn	n.neut	althorn	W7
	Einhorn	n.neut	unicorn	LRC
	Flügelhorn	n.neut	trumpet, flugelhorn	LRC
	Gehirn	n.neut	brain(s); sense	TLL
	Hirn	n.neut	brain	LRC
	Hirsch	n	hart	ASD
	Horn	n.neut	horn	W7
	Horniss	n	hornet	ASD
	Karotte	n	carrot	TLL
	Rind	n.neut	ox, cow	W7
	Rinderpest	n.fem	rinderpest	W7
N-Germanic
Runic:	horna	n.acc.sg	horn	GED
Old Norse:	horn	n.neut	horn; drinking horn; corner	LRC
	hyrna	n	beak; corner of axe	KNW
Old Icelandic:	hjarni	n.masc	brain	RPN
	hjarsi	n.masc	crown, top of head	RPN
	hjörtr	n	hart, stag	RPN
	horn	n.str.neut	horn	GED
Icelandic:	hjörtr	n	hart	ASD
	hyra	n	horn/point (of ax-head), mountain peak	ASD
Danish:	hjerne	n	brain	TLL
	hjørne	n	corner	TLL
	horn	n	horn	TLL
Swedish:	hjärna	n	brain	TLL
	horn	n	horn	TLL
	hörn	n	angle, corner	SAO/TLL
E-Germanic
Gothic:	haurn	n.neut	horn	RPN
	*haurnja	n	flute (horn) player	GED
	*haurnjan	vb	to blow/sound a horn	GED
	þut-haurn	n.neut	trumpet	GED
Italic
Latin:	Capricornus	prop.n.masc	Capricorn, lit. Goat-horn	W7
	cerebellum	n.neut	part of brain	W7
	cerebrum	n.neut	brain	RPN
	cervical, cervicalis	n.neut	pillow	LRC
	cervinus	adj	of a deer	W7
	cervix, cervicis	n.neut	neck	W7
	cervus	n.masc	deer, stag	RPN
	cornea	n.fem	cornea	W7
	corneus	adj	horny	W7
	corniculatus	adj	corniculate	W7
	corniculum	n.neut	small horn	W7
	cornu	n.neut	horn	RPN
	corymbus	n.masc	cluster of fruit/flowers	W7
	coryphaeus	n.masc	coryphee	W7
	crabro	n.masc	hornet	W7
	rhinoceros, rhinocerotos	n.masc	rhinoceros	W7
	tricornis	adj	with three horns	W7
	unicornis	adj	with one horn	W7
Late Latin:	carota	n.fem	carrot	W7
	hemicrania	n.fem	pain in one side of the head	W7
	unicornis	adj	unicorn, that has only one horn	W7
Medieval Latin:	cranium	n.neut	cranium, skull	W7
New Latin:	chelicera	n.fem	one of the anterior horns of arachnids	W7
	corydalis	n.fem	a genus of herbs	W7
Old French:	corne	n.fem	horn	W7
	cornere	vb	to blow a horn	W7
	unicorne	n.masc/fem	unicorn	W7
Middle French:	carotte	n.fem	carrot	W7
	corne	n.fem	horn, corner	W7
	cornet	n.masc	cornet	W7
French:	carotide	n.fem	carotid, artery	W7
	cervelas	n.masc	a type of sausage	W7/R1
	chélicère	n.fem	cephalic appendice of the arachnids and limules	W7/R1
	corymbe	n.masc	type of inflorescence	W7/R1
	migraine	n.fem	headache	W7
	serval	n.masc	small feline African animal	W7
Baltic
Old Prussian:	curwis	n	ox	GED
	sirwis	n	deer	GED
Lithuanian:	kárve	n	cow	GED
Latvian:	sirnas	n.pl	deer	GED
Slavic
Old Church Slavonic:	krava	n	cow	GED
	sri'na	n	horn	GED
Hellenic
Hesychius' Greek Lexicon:	kárnux	n	trumpet	GED
Ionic:	kárê	n.neut	head; top part	RPN
Attic:	kára	n.neut	head; top part	RPN
Greek:	hemikrania	n.fem	pain in one side of the head	W7
	kárnon	n	horn; trumpet	GED
	karoun	vb	to stupefy	W7
	karotides	n.fem.pl	carotid arteries	W7
	karoton	n.neut	carrot	W7
	keraós	adj	horned	RPN
	kéras	n.neut	head, animal's horn	RPN
	kerastes	adj	horned	W7
	kera(F)ós	adj	horned	GED
	korydallis	n.fem	crested lark	W7
	kórudos	n	crested lark	GED
	korymbos	n.masc	cluster of fruit/flowers	W7
	koryphaios	n.masc	coryphaeus	W7
	koruphê	n.fem	summit	RPN
	kraníon	n.neut	skull, upper part of head	RPN
	kriós	n.masc	ram	LS
	rhinokeros, rhinokerotos	n.masc	rhinoceros	W7
	chele	n.fem	claw	W7
	olekranon	n.neut	elbow	W7
Anatolian
Hittite:	karauar	n	horn	GED
Armenian
Armenian:	sar	n	top, peak, summit	RPN
Iranian
Persian:	sar	n	head	AHD
	sarpush	n	headdress, tarboosh	AHD
Avestan:	sarah-	n	head	GED
	sru-, srva	n	horn, nail	GED
Indic
Sanskrit:	síras-	n.neut	head, skull	RPN
	sirsá-h	n	head, skull; top, upper part	RPN
	sirsán-	n	head	RPN
	srnga-m	n.neut	horn, tusk; peak, point	RPN

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
acc	=	accusative (case)
adj	=	adjective
fem	=	feminine (gender)
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
neut	=	neuter (gender)
obs	=	obsolete
pl	=	plural (number)
prop	=	proper
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)
CDC	=	W.D. Whitney and B.E. Smith: The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (1889-1911)
GED	=	Winfred P. Lehmann: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986)
IEW	=	Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959)
KNW	=	Gerhard Köbler: Altnordisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed. (2003)
LRC	=	Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
LS	=	Liddell and Scott: Greek-English Lexicon, 7th-9th ed's (1882-1940), rev.
R1	=	Josette Rey-Debove and Alain Rey, eds. Le Nouveau Petit Robert (1993)
RPN	=	Allan R. Bomhard: Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic (2002)
SAO	=	Swedish Academy: Svenska Akademiens Ordbok (2011)
TLL	=	Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944)
W7	=	Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

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