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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: 2. leu- 'to free, cut off, separate'

Semantic Fields: Free (adj); to Release; to Separate

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
English
Old English:	forleosan	vb.str	to lose	W7/ASD
	leas	adj/sfx	vain, false; loose, bereft of; -less	W7/ASD
	leas	n.neut	lie, deceit, falsehood	ASD
	leasian	vb.wk	to lie, deceive, prevaricate	W7/ASD
	*leosan	vb.str.II	to lose	W7
	los	n.neut	loss, destruction	W7/ASD
	losian	vb.wk	to lose, perish, get lost	W7/ASD
Middle English:	absolute	adj	absolute	W7
	absolven	vb	to absolve	W7
	as(s)oilen/as(s)oilien/assoylen	vb	to assoil	W7
	dissolven	vb	to dissolve	W7
	forloren	vb.past.ptc	lost, forlorn	W7
	lesen	vb	to lose, suffer loss	W7
	lesing	n	leasing	W7
	-les(se)	adj.sfx	-less	W7
	lorn	adj	lorn	W7
	los	n	loss	W7
	losel	n	rogue, rascal, worthless person	W7
	losen	vb	to lose, ruin	W7
	lous	n	louse	W7
	parlesie	n	palsy	W7
	soluble	adj	soluble	W7
	solven	vb	to solve	W7
English:	absolute	adj	perfect, free from imperfection	AHD/W7
	absolve	vb.trans	to free from obligation/consequences of guilt	AHD/W7
	analysis	n	separation of whole into component parts	AHD/W7
	assoil	vb.trans	to absolve, pardon	AHD/W7
	catalysis	n	increase/modification in rate of chemical reaction	AHD/W7
	dialysis	n	separating substances in solution	AHD/W7
	dissolve	vb	to destroy, cause to disperse/disappear	AHD/W7
	forlorn	adj	bereft, forsaken	AHD/W7
	lag	n	barrel stave	AHD/W7
	leasing	n	lie, falsehood, act of lying	AHD/W7
	leister	n	fishing spear with barbed prongs	AHD/W7
	-less	adj.sfx	devoid of, not having	AHD/W7
	loess	n	unstratified loamy material thought to be deposited by wind	AHD/W7
	loose	adj	not (rigidly/securely) fastened/attached	AHD/W7
	lorn	adj	lost, ruined	AHD/W7
	lose, lost	vb.str	to damn, bring to destruction	AHD/W7
	losel	n	worthless person	AHD/W7
	loss	n	act of losing	AHD/W7
	lues	n	syphilis	AHD/W7
	lyase	n	(kind of) enzyme	AHD
	lyo-	pfx	dispersion, dispersed state	AHD/W7
	lysis	n	gradual decline in, e.g., fever	AHD/W7
	-lyte	n.sfx	substance able to undergo decomposition	AHD/W7
	-lytic	adj.sfx	re: decomposition	AHD/W7
	lytic	adj	re: lysis/lysin	AHD/W7
	Nameless	prop.n	a.k.a. Sauron in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	palsy	n	paralysis	AHD/W7
	paralysis	n	complete/partial loss of bodily function	AHD/W7
	resolute	adj	resolved, marked by firm determination	AHD/W7
	resolve	vb	to melt, dissolve	AHD/W7
	soluble	adj	susceptible to being dissolved (as if) in fluid	AHD/W7
	solute	n	dissolved substance	AHD/W7
	solve	vb.trans	to find solution	AHD/W7
	tachylyte	n	black glassy basalt	AHD/W7
Scots English:	assoilzie	vb	to assoil	CDC
W-Germanic
Old Frisian:	las	adj	loose, without, free from	ASD
Dutch:	verliezen	vb	to lose	ASD
Old Saxon:	los	adj	false; loose, free from	ASD
Old High German:	los	adj	loose	W7
German:	los	adj	loose, without, free from	ASD
	Löß	n.masc	loess	W7
	Tachylyt	n	tachylyte	W7
	verlieren	vb.str	to lose	ASD
N-Germanic
Old Norse:	lauss	adj	loose, free	LRC
	ljósta	vb	to strike	LRC
	ljostr	n	leister	W7
	losa	vb	to loosen	W7
	lögg	n	barrel rim	W7
Icelandic:	lauss	adj	loose, free, void	ASD
	los	n	looseness, breaking up	ASD
E-Germanic
Gothic:	laus	adj	vain, empty	ASD
	láusjan	vb.wk.I	to free, deliver	LRC
Italic
Latin:	absolvo, absolvere, absolvi, absolutus	vb	to absolve, discharge, set free	W7
	dissolvo, dissolvere	vb	to untie, to dissolve	W7
	lues	n.fem	plague	W7
	luo, luere	vb	to release	W7
	paralysis	n.fem	paralysis	W7
	resolvo, resolvere, resolvi, resolutus	vb	to resolve, loosen	W7
	solvo, solvere, solvi, solutus	vb	to loosen, dissolve	W7
Late Latin:	solubilis	adj	soluble	W7
Medieval Latin:	analysis	n	analysis	AHD
New Latin:	analysis	n.fem	analysis, breaking up	W7
	dialysis	n.fem	dialysis	W7
	lyo-	pfx	loosening, dispersion	W7
	lysis	n	loosening, dissolution	W7
Old French:	as(s)oldre/assoil(li)er	vb	to assoil	W7/CDC
Middle French:	paralisie	n.fem	paralysis	W7
	soluble	adj	able to be loosened/dissolved	W7
Hellenic
Greek:	analysis	n.fem	breaking up	W7
	analyw	vb	to break up	W7
	dialysis	n.fem	separation	W7
	dialyw	vb	to dissolve	W7
	katalysis	n.fem	dissolution	W7
	katalyw	vb	to dissolve	W7
	lysis	n.fem	act of loosening	W7
	lytikos	adj	able to loosen	W7
	lytos	adj	that may be untied, soluble	W7
	lúô	vb	to loosen, free	LRC
	paralysis	n.fem	paralysis	W7
	paralyw	vb	to loosen, disable	W7

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
I	=	class 1
II	=	class 2
adj	=	adjective
fem	=	feminine (gender)
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
neut	=	neuter (gender)
past	=	past (tense)
pfx	=	prefix
prop	=	proper
ptc	=	participle
sfx	=	suffix
str	=	strong (inflection)
trans	=	transitive
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)
LRC	=	Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
W7	=	Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

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