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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: orbho- 'weak, abandoned; slave, orphan'

Semantic Fields: Weak, Infirm; Slave; Orphan

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
English
Old English:	earfeðe/earfoþ	n.neut	hardship, suffering	ASD
	earfoð-hwil	n.fem	lit. hardship-time	LRC
	(e)arm/ærm	adj	poor, wretched, pitiful, miserable	ASD
	earm-cearig	adj	miserable, lit. wretched-caring	LRC
English:	orphan	n	child deprived of parent(s) by death	AHD/W7
	robot	n	machine with human form/function but lacking sensitivity	AHD/W7
W-Germanic
Old Frisian:	arbe(i)d	n.neut	labor, hardship	ASD
	arm/erm	adj	poor	ASD
Frisian:	aerbeyde	n	labor, hardship	ASD
	earm	adj	poor	ASD
Dutch:	arbeid	n.masc	labor, hardship	ASD
	arbeiden	vb	to work	TLL
	arm	adj	poor	ASD
Old Saxon:	arbeit	n.fem	labor, hardship	ASD
	arbeithi/arbeidi/arvit	n.neut	labor, hardship	ASD
	arm	adj	poor	ASD
Old High German:	ar(a)beit	n.fem	trouble	W7/ASD
	ar(a)m	adj	poor	ASD
	erbi	n	inheritance	W7
Middle High German:	ar(e)beit	n.fem	labor, hardship	ASD
	arm	adj	poor	ASD
German:	Arbeit	n.fem	labor, hardship	ASD
	arbeiten	vb	to work	TLL
	arm	adj	poor	ASD
	Erbe	n.masc	beneficiary	LRC
	Erbe	n.neut	inheritance	LRC
N-Germanic
Old Norse:	arfr	n	inheritance	LRC
Icelandic:	armr	adj	poor	ASD
	erfiði/erviði	n.neut	toil, labor, distress	ASD
Danish:	arbeid(e)	n.neut	labor, hardship	ASD
	arbejde	vb	to work	TLL
	arm	adj	poor	ASD
Swedish:	arbeta	vb	to work	TLL
	arbete	n.neut	labor, hardship	ASD
	arm	adj	poor	ASD
E-Germanic
Gothic:	arbaiþs	n.fem	labor, hardship	ASD
	arms	adj	poor	ASD
Italic
Latin:	orbus	adj	orphaned	W7
Slavic
Czech:	robot	n	robot	W7
	robota	n	work, labor	W7
Old Church Slavonic:	rabotati, rabotajo, rabotajesi	vb	to serve, render service	LRC
	rabu'	n.masc	servant	LRC
Hellenic
Greek:	orphanos	n.masc	orphan	W7

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
adj	=	adjective
fem	=	feminine (gender)
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
neut	=	neuter (gender)
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)
LRC	=	Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
TLL	=	Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944)
W7	=	Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

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