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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: 5. ster-, steru- : stre-, steru- : streu- 'to strew, scatter, spread out'

Semantic Field: to Strew, Spread Out

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
Celtic
Scots Gaelic:	srath	n.masc	valley	W7
Old Breton:	strovis	vb.1.sg	I have spread out	RPN
English
Old English:	stræt	n.fem	street, road	W7
	strand	n.neut	strand	ASD
	stre(a)w/streow/streu	n.neut	straw, hay	RPN/ASD
	streon	n.neut	gain, treasure, acquisition	W7
	stre(o)wian/streawian	vb.wk	to strew, scatter	RPN/ASD
Middle English:	destroyen	vb	to destroy	W7
	instructen	vb	to instruct	W7
	instrument	n	instrument	W7
	prostrat	adj	prostrate	W7
	straien	vb	to stray	W7
	strand	n	strand	W7
	straw	n	straw	W7
	stray	n	stray	W7
	streen	n	strain	W7
	strete	n	street	W7
	strewen	vb	to strew	W7
	strowen	vb	to strew	W7
	structure	n	structure	W7
English:	bremsstrahlung	n	(form of) electromagnetic radiation	AHD/W7
	consternate	vb	to dismay, terrify, throw into confusion	AHD/CDC
	consternation	n	terror, astonishment, paralyzing dismay	AHD/CDC
	construct	vb.trans	to make/form by combining parts	AHD/W7
	destroy	vb	to ruin, demolish	AHD/W7
	estray	vb.intrans	to stray	AHD/W7
	industry	n	diligence in pursuit/employment	AHD/W7
	instruct	vb.trans	to teach, give knowledge to	AHD/W7
	instrument	n	means of achievement/performance	AHD/W7
	Langstrand	prop.n	Gondor coast in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	obstruct	vb.trans	to block/close up (via obstacle)	AHD/W7
	perestroika	n	mid-1980's restructuring of Soviet economy/bureaucracy	AHD
	prostrate	adj	stretched out (face on ground)	AHD/W7
	sternocleidomastoid	n	neck muscle that rotates head	AHD
	sternum	n	compound ventral bone/cartilage	AHD/W7
	strain	n	lineage, progeny, ancestry	AHD/W7
	strand	n	shore, beach, land bordering water body	W7
	strath	n	(low-lying grassland along) flat wide river valley	AHD/W7
	stratocracy	n	government based on army/military	AHD/W7
	stratus	n	cloud form wider/lower than cumulostratus/cirrostratus	AHD/W7
	straw	n	grain stalks after threshing	AHD/W7
	Strawheads	prop.n.pl	Rohirrim a.k.a. Forgoil in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	stray	n	domestic animal lost/wandering at large	AHD/W7
	stray	vb.intrans	to roam, wander from company/restraint/proper limits	AHD/W7
	street	n	wider thoroughfare than alley/lane in village/town/city	AHD/W7
	streusel	n	crumbly pastry topping	AHD
	strew	vb.trans	to spread by scattering	AHD/W7
	stroma	n	supporting framework of animal organ	AHD/W7
	stromatolite	n	sedimentary structure of laminated carbonate/silicate rock	AHD
	structure	n	construction, action of building	AHD/W7
	substratum	n	foundation, underlying support	AHD/W7
	substruction	n	substructure, underlying/supporting part of fabrication	AHD/W7
W-Germanic
Old Frisian:	stre	n	straw	ASD
	strete	n	street, road	ASD
	strewa	vb	to strew	ASD
Old Dutch:	strande	n.neut	strand	ASD
Dutch:	strand	n	strand	TLL
Old Saxon:	strata	n	street, road	ASD
	stroedun/streidun	vb	to strew	ASD
Old Low German:	streidin	vb	to strew	ASD
	stro	n	straw	ASD
Old High German:	gistriuni	n	gain	W7
	stirna	n	forehead	W7
	straza	n	street	W7
	stre(u)wen	vb	to strew, sprinkle	RPN
	stro/strao	n	straw	W7/ASD
	strouwen	vb	to strew, sprinkle	RPN
Middle High German:	strant	n.masc	strand	ASD
	strousel	n	something strewn	AHD
German:	Bremsstrahlung	n.fem	bremsstrahlung	W7
	Stirn	n.fem	forehead	LRC
	Strand	n.masc	strand	ASD
	Strasse	n.fem	street	LRC
	streuen	vb	to strew	LRC
	Streusel	n.masc/neut	dust, litter; sprinkling, streusel	AHD
	Stroh	n.neut	straw	LRC
	Strohhalm	n.neut	drinking straw	LRC
N-Germanic
Old Norse:	strönd	n	strand	W7
Old Icelandic:	strá	vb	to strew, cover with (straw)	RPN
Icelandic:	strá	n	straw	ASD
	strá	vb	to strew	ASD
	strönd	n.fem	strand	ASD
Danish:	strand	n	strand	TLL
	stræde	n	lane	TLL
Swedish:	strand	n	strand, bank	TLL
E-Germanic
Gothic:	straujan	vb	to strew, spread out	RPN
Italic
Old Latin:	indostruus	adj	diligent	W7
	-struus	afx	built, instituted	W7
Latin:	constructus	vb.ptc	built	W7
	construo, construere	vb	to build, construct	W7
	destruo, destruere	vb	to destroy, tear down	W7
	industria	n.fem	diligence	W7
	industrius	adj	diligent	W7
	instructus, instructa, instructum	adj/vb.ptc	ready, arranged, built in	LRC
	instrumentum	n.neut	instrument	W7
	instruo, instruere	vb	to arrange, build up; equip, instruct	W7
	obstructus	vb.ptc	obstructed	W7
	obstruo, obstruere	vb	to obstruct	W7
	prosterno, prosternere	vb	to bow down, throw down	W7
	prostratus	vb.ptc	spread out, thrown down	W7
	sterno, sternere	vb	to spread/stretch out	RPN
	stratus	vb.ptc	spread out	W7
	stroma	n.neut	bed covering	W7
	structura	n.fem	structure	W7
	structus	vb.ptc	built	W7
	strues	n	heap	RPN
	struo, struere	vb	to build, pile up, put together	RPN
	substerno, substernere	vb	to spread under	W7
	substratus	vb.ptc	built under	W7
	substructio, substructionis	n.fem	construction under	W7
	substructus	vb.ptc	built under	W7
	substruo, substruere	vb	to build beneath	W7
Vulgar Latin:	destrugere	vb	to destroy	W7
	extrago, extragare	vb	to wander outside	W7
Late Latin:	strata	n.fem	street, paved road	W7
Medieval Latin:	substratum	n.neut	substratum	W7
New Latin:	sternum	n.neut	breastbone	W7
	stratus	vb.ptc	spreaded	W7
Old French:	destruire	vb	to destroy	W7
	estraié	vb.ptc	stray	W7
	estraier	vb	to stray, wander	W7
Middle French:	industrie	n.fem	(employment involving) skill	W7
Italian:	strada	n	street	TLL
Slavic
Old Church Slavonic:	pro-sti'ro, pro-streti	vb	to stretch	RPN
	strana	n.fem	area, region, country; (pl) heathen	LRC
	strani'nu'	adj	strange, foreign	LRC
	stroiti, strojo, stroisi	vb	to prepare, arrange	LRC
Old Russian:	stroji	n	order	AHD
Albanian
Albanian:	shtrij	vb	to spread out	RPN
Hellenic
Homeric Greek:	stérnon	n.neut	chest, breast(bone)	LRC
	storénnumi	vb	to strew, spread, lay (a bed)	RPN
	stratóomai	vb	to be encamped, take the field	LRC
	stratós	n.masc	host, army	LRC
	strônnumi	vb	to strew, spread, lay (a bed)	RPN
Greek:	stornynai	vb	to spread out	W7
	strateía	n.fem	expedition	LRC
	strateúô	vb	to attack, take the field	LRC
	stratêgós	n.masc	general	LRC
	stratía	n.fem	host	LRC
	stratiôtês	n.masc	soldier	LRC
	stroma	n.neut	bed covering	W7
Iranian
Avestan:	sturunati	vb	to stretch, spread, extend	RPN
Indic
Sanskrit:	stirná-h	vb.past.pass.ptc	spread, strewn, scattered	RPN
	strnati	vb	to strew, scatter, spread out	RPN
	strnóti	vb	to strew, scatter, spread out	RPN
	strtá-h	vb.past.pass.ptc	bestrewn, covered	RPN

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
1	=	1st person
adj	=	adjective
afx	=	affix
fem	=	feminine (gender)
intrans	=	intransitive
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
neut	=	neuter (gender)
pass	=	passive (voice)
past	=	past (tense)
pl	=	plural (number)
prop	=	proper
ptc	=	participle
sg	=	singular (number)
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
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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