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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.

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

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Pokorny Etymon: 3. lei- 'slimy; to slip, glide'

Semantic Field: to Slip, Slide

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
Celtic
Old Irish:	ad-slig	vb	to persuade	GED
English
Old English:	lam	n.neut	loam	W7/ASD
	lim	n	lime	W7
	sliht	adj	slight, simple, level	GED
	slim	n.masc/neut	slime	W7/ASD
	slipor	adj	slippery	W7
Middle English:	lime	n	lime	W7
	liniment	n	liniment	W7
	lom	n	loam	W7
	oblivion	n	oblivion	W7
	slight/sleght	adj	slight	GED
	sliken	vb	to slick	W7
	slime	n	slime	W7
	slippen	vb	to slip	W7
	slipper	adj	slippery	W7
English:	limacine	adj	re: slug	AHD/W7
	lime	n	birdlime, sticky substance	AHD/W7
	limicoline	adj	shore-inhabiting	AHD/W7
	liniment	n	thin medicinal preparation for skin application	AHD/W7
	litotes	n	understatement having affirmative expressed by negative of contrary (not a bad...)	AHD/W7
	loam	n	soil mixture composed mainly of moistened clay	AHD/W7
	oblivion	n	forgetfulness, act/instance of forgetting	AHD/W7
	oubliette	n	dungeon with opening only at top	AHD/W7
	schlep	vb	to lug, carry clumsily; move slowly/laboriously	AHD
	slick	vb	to make sleek/smooth	AHD/W7
	slight	adj	slim, frail; sleek, smooth	AHD/W2I
	slime	n	soft moist clay/earth	AHD/W7
	slimy	adj	viscous, re: slime	W7
	slip	vb	to move with smooth sliding motion	AHD/W7
	slippery	adj	causing one to slide/fall	AHD/W7
W-Germanic
Old Frisian:	sliucht	adj	slight, even	GED
Middle Dutch:	slicht	adj	slight	W7
Dutch:	slijk	n	mud	TLL
	slijm	n	slime	ASD
Old Low German:	lemo/leimo	n	loam	ASD
Middle Low German:	slecht	adj	slight, even, friendly	GED
	slippen	vb	to slip	W7
	slipper	adj	slippery	W7
Old High German:	leim	n	loam	ASD
	lim	n	lime	W7
	slefar	adj	slippery	ASD
	sleht	adj	slight, even, friendly	GED
	slihhan	vb.str	to glide	GED
	slimen	vb	to smooth	W7
Middle High German:	slepfer	adj	slippery	ASD
	slim	n.masc	slime	ASD
German:	Lehm	n	loam	ASD
	Schleim	n.masc	slime	ASD
	schleimig	adj	slimy	LRC
N-Germanic
Old Norse:	leir	n	clay	KNW
Old Icelandic:	slettr	adj	slight, even, smooth, gentle	GED
	sliur	adj	smooth	GED
Icelandic:	slím	n.neut	slime	ASD
Danish:	ler	n	clay	TLL
	slette	n	plain	TLL
Swedish:	lera	n	clay	TLL
	slät	n	plain	TLL
E-Germanic
Gothic:	*slaihts	adj	smooth	GED
Italic
Latin:	levis	adj	light, smooth, mild	W7
	lima	n.fem	file	W7
	limax, limacis	n	slug	W7
	limus	n.masc	mud	W7
	lino, linere	vb	to smear	W7
	oblivio, oblivionis	n.fem	oblivion	W7
	obliviscor, oblivisci, oblitus	vb	to forget	W7
Late Latin:	linimentum	n.neut	liniment	W7
New Latin:	limacinus	adj	of slugs	W7
Middle French:	oblivion	n.fem	oblivion	W7
	oublier	vb	to forget	W7
	oubliette	n.fem	oubliette, remote prison	W7
French:	oubliette	n.fem	remote isolated cell in medieval dungeon	W7
Slavic
Russian:	slizkij	adj	slippery	GED
Hellenic
Greek:	leios	adj	smooth	W7
	lígdên	adv	scraping	GED
	líssomai	vb	to pray	LRC
	litos	adj	simple	W7
	litotes	n.fem	simplicity, litote (figure of speech)	W7
	olibros	adj	slippery	W7

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
adj	=	adjective
adv	=	adverb(ial)
fem	=	feminine (gender)
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
neut	=	neuter (gender)
str	=	strong (inflection)
vb	=	verb

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)
KNW	=	Gerhard Köbler: Altnordisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed. (2003)
LRC	=	Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
TLL	=	Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944)
W2I	=	Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language, 2nd ed. (1959)
W7	=	Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

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