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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.

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. (s)p(h)el- 'to cut, split, spall, tear off; board'

Semantic Fields: to Cut; to Split; to Tear; Board

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
English
Old English:	speld	n.str.neut	torch, piece of wood	GED
	spelt	n.masc	spelt	W7
	spillan	vb.wk	to spill	W7/ASD
Middle English:	despoylen	vb	to despoil	W7
	spalle	n	spall	W7
	spelt	n	spelt	W7
	spillen	vb	to spill	W7
	spoile	n	spoil	W7
	spoilen	vb	to spoil	W7
English:	despoil	vb.trans	to pillage, strip of belongings/possessions	AHD/W7
	spale	n	chip/strip/splinter of wood	OED
	spall	n	chip/splinter of rock/ore	OED
	spall	vb	to chip/split/break (rock/ore) into smaller pieces	OED
	spelt	n	wheat	AHD/W7
	spelter	n	zinc (cast in slabs)	IEW/W7
	spill, spilt	vb.wk	to kill, destroy	AHD/W7
	spoil, spoilt	vb.wk	to strip, despoil	AHD/W7
	spoil	n	loot, plunder taken from victim/enemy	AHD/W7
W-Germanic
Dutch:	speld	n	pin	TLL
Middle Low German:	spalden	vb	to spall	GED
	spelderen	n.pl	split-off pieces of wood	GED
	spolden	vb	to split	GED
Old High German:	spaltan	vb	to spall, cleave	RPN
	spalten	vb.wk	to spall, cleave	GED
Middle High German:	spelte	n.wk.fem	split-off piece of wood (e.g. lance splinter)	GED
German:	Spalte	n.fem	rift, crack	LRC
	spellen	vb	to spall, cleave	OED
N-Germanic
Old Norse:	spilla, spillat	vb	to spoil, destroy	LRC
Old Icelandic:	speld/spjald	n.str	board, slab of wood	GED
	spolr	n.masc	pole	GED
Icelandic:	speld/spjald	n.neut	tablet	ASD
	spilda	n	flake	ASD
	spilla	vb	to spill, spoil	ASD
E-Germanic
Gothic:	spilda	n.fem	tablet	GED
Italic
Latin:	despolio, despoliare	vb	to despoil, plunder	W7
	spolio, spoliare	vb	to rob, strip, despoil	W7
	spolium, spolia	n.neut	spoils, booty; splayed hide of animal	GED
Old French:	despoillier	vb	to despoil	W7
Middle French:	espoille	n.fem	spoils, booty	W7
	espoillier	vb	to spoil	W7
Baltic
Old Prussian:	spelannxtis	n	sliver	GED
Lithuanian:	spãlis	n	flax trimmings	GED
Slavic
Old Church Slavonic:	platu'	n	rag	GED
	ra-splatiti	vb	to split	GED
Hellenic
Hesychius' Greek Lexicon:	spalássein	vb	to cut	GED
	sphalássein	vb	to cut	GED
	sphális	n	scissors	GED
Greek:	sphállô	vb	to fell, trip up	LS
Dardic
Kashmiri:	phalawun	vb	to split, cleave	RPN
	phalun	vb	to be split	RPN
Indic
Sanskrit:	phálati	vb	to burst, split, cleave	GED
	sphátati	vb	to burst, expand	RPN
	sphatati	vb	to burst	GED
	sphutati	vb	to burst, split	GED
Marathi:	phalne	vb	to tear	RPN

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
fem	=	feminine (gender)
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
neut	=	neuter (gender)
pl	=	plural (number)
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)
GED	=	Winfred P. Lehmann: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986)
IEW	=	Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959)
LRC	=	Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
LS	=	Liddell and Scott: Greek-English Lexicon, 7th-9th ed's (1882-1940), rev.
OED	=	James A.H. Murray et al: The Oxford English Dictionary (1933)
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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