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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 with Unicode^® support, but fonts for only the Unicode 2.0 character set (including combining diacritics). Versions of this page rendered in alternate character sets are available via links (see Unicode 3 and ISO-8859-1) in the left margin.

Pokorny Etymon: 4. bhel-, and bhlē-, bhlō-, bhlə- 'leaf, foil, blade; bloom'

Semantic Fields: Leaf; Flower

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
Celtic
Old Irish:	bláth	n	flower	RPN
English
Old English:	blǣd	n.masc	breath, life, spirit	LRC
	blǣd	n.neut	blade	LRC
	blēd	n.fem	stalk, fruit, flower	RPN/ASD
	blēdan	vb	to bleed	W7/ASD
	blētsian/bletsi(g)an/blēdsian	vb	to bless	W7/ASD/CDC
	blōd	n.str.neut	blood	GED
	blōma	n.masc	bloom, lump of metal	W7/ASD
	blōstm(a)/blōsma/blōsþma	n.masc	blossom	W7/ASD/CDC
	blōt	n.neut	blood, sacrifice	ASD
	blōt-mōnaþ	n.masc	November, lit. blood-month (of sacrifice)	ASD
	blōwan	vb	to blow	W7
	cerfille/cærfille/cyrfille	n.fem	chervil	W7/ASD
Northumbrian:	bloedsia/bl(o)etsia	vb	to bless	ASD
Middle English:	blad(e)/bladde	n	blade	W7/CDC
	blede	n	fruit, blossom	CDC
	bleden	vb	to bleed	W7
	bless(i)en/blescen/bletsien	vb	to bless	W7/CDC
	blom	n	bloom: flower, perfection	MEV
	blome	n	bloom: lump of metal	W7
	blood(e)/blod(e)/bl(o)ud	n	blood	W7/MEV/CDC
	blossome/blossum/blos(t)me	n	blossom	CDC/W7
	blowen	vb	to blow	W7
	cherville	n	chervil	W7
	deflouren	vb	to deflower	W7
	emblayment	n	emblements	W7
	florin	n	florin	W7
	florisshen	vb	to flourish	W7
	flour	n	flour, flower, best of anything	W7
	flourette	n	floret	W7
	foil	n	foil	W7
	folio	n	folio	W7
	milfoil	n	yarrow	W7
	trefoil	n	clover	W7
English:	blade	n	leaf	AHD/W7
	bleed, bled	vb.str	to lose/emit blood	AHD/W7
	bless, blest	vb.wk.trans	to hallow/consecrate by religious rite/word	AHD/W7
	blood	n	fluid circulating in veins/arteries of vertebrates	AHD/W7
	bloom	n	flower	AHD/W7
	bloom	n	wrought iron mass from forge/puddling furnace	AHD/W7
	bloom	vb	to yield/produce flowers	W7
	Blooting	prop.n	Bree calendar's November in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	blossom	n	flower of seed plant	AHD/W7
	blossom	vb	to bloom	W7
	Blotmath/Blodmath/Blommath	prop.n	Shire calendar's November in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	blow, blew, blown	vb.str.intrans	to flower, blossom	AHD/W7
	cauliflower	n	garden plant	AHD/W7
	chervil	n	aromatic herb	AHD/W7
	cinquefoil	n	plant of rose family having 5-lobed leaves	AHD/W7
	deflower	vb.trans	to ravish, deprive of virginity	AHD/W7
	defoliate	vb.trans	to deprive of leaves	AHD/W7
	effloresce	vb.intrans	to bloom, burst forth	AHD/W7
	emblements	n	crops, from cultivation, legally belonging to tenant	AHD/W7
	enfleurage	n	extraction of perfume from flowers	AHD/W7
	exfoliate	vb	to cast off scales/splinters/laminae	AHD/W7
	ferret	n	narrow cotton/silk/wool tape	AHD/W7
	feuilleton	n	part of European newspaper/magazine devoted to general interests	AHD/W7
	Flora	prop.n	goddess of flowers (Roman mythology)	AHD/W7
	flora	n	plants, plant life	W2I
	floral	adj	re: flora/flowers	AHD/W7
	floret	n	small flower	AHD/W7
	floriated	adj	having floral form/ornaments	AHD/W7
	florid	adj	covered with flowers	AHD/W7
	florigen	n	hormone/agent that promotes flowering	AHD/W7
	florin	n	gold coin struck in Florence	AHD/W7
	florist	n	one who sells flowers	AHD/W7
	-florous	adj.sfx	having/bearing flowers	AHD/W7
	flour	n	finely ground wheat meal	AHD/W7
	flourish	vb	to thrive, grow luxuriantly	AHD/W7
	flower	n	blossom, inflorescence	AHD/W7
	foil	n	plant leaf	AHD/W7
	foliage	n	mass of plant leaves	AHD/W7
	folio	n	leaf, esp. of book/manuscript	AHD/W7
	folium	n	thin layer in metamorphic rocks	AHD/W7
	kingsfoil	n	healing herb in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	milfoil	n	yarrow: Eurasian composite herb	AHD/W7
	millefleur	n	background of (lit. 1000) small plants/flowers	AHD
	perfoliate	adj	having basal part united around stem	AHD/W7
	-phyll	n.sfx	leaf	AHD/W7
	-phyllous	adj.sfx	having leaves/leaflets/leaf-like parts	AHD/W7
	podophyllin	n	bitter resin from May apple root	AHD
	portfolio	n	portable case for papers/drawings	AHD/W7
	trefoil	n	clover	AHD/W7
Scots English:	bluid/blude	n	blood	CDC
	blume	n	bloom	CDC
W-Germanic
Old Frisian:	blæm/blam	n	bloom	CDC
	bled	n	blade	CDC
	blēda	vb	to bleed	CDC
	blōd	n.str.neut	blood	GED
	blōia	vb	to blow: bloom	CDC
Frisian:	bloed	n.neut	blood	ASD
	bloeyen	vb	to blow: bloom	ASD
North Frisian:	blomme	n	bloom	CDC
	blot/blöt	n.neut	blood	ASD
	blöye	vb	to blow: bloom	ASD
Old Dutch:	bloed	n.neut	blood	ASD
	blosem	n	blossom	ASD
Middle Dutch:	bloeme	n	bloom	CDC
Dutch:	blad	n	blade	CDC
	bloed	n.neut	blood	ASD
	bloeden	vb	to bleed	ASD
	bloeijen	vb	to blow	ASD
	bloem	n.fem	bloom	CDC
	bloesem	n.masc	blossom	ASD
	kervel	n.fem	chervil	ASD
Old Saxon:	blad	n	blade	CDC
	blōd	n.str.neut	blood	GED
	blōjan	vb	to blow: bloom	ASD
	blōmo	n	bloom	CDC
Middle Low German:	blat	n	blade	CDC
	blōme	n	bloom	CDC
	blos(s)em	n	blossom	CDC
	blōt	n	fruit, blossom	CDC
	blöt	n	blood	CDC
Low German:	blad	n	blade	CDC
	blood	n	blood	CDC
Old High German:	blāt	n	blast, blowing	ASD
	blat	n	blade	W7
	bluoen	vb	to bloom	W7
	bluojan/bluo(ha)n	vb	to blow: bloom	ASD
	bluoma	n.fem	bloom	CDC
	bluomo	n.masc	bloom	CDC
	bluot	n	fruit, blossom	CDC
	bluot	n.str.neut	blood	GED
	bluotan	vb	to bleed	ASD
	kervila/kerfola	n.fem	chervil	W7/ASD
Middle High German:	blat	n	blade	CDC
	bloust	n	blossom	CDC
	bluome	n.masc/fem	bloom	CDC
	bluon/blü(ej)en	vb	to blow: bloom	ASD
	bluot	n	fruit, blossom	CDC
	bluot	n.neut	blood	ASD
	kërvele	n.fem	chervil	ASD
German:	Blatt	n	blade	CDC
	blühen	vb	to blow: bloom	ASD
	Blume	n.fem	bloom	CDC
	Blut	n.neut	blood	ASD
	Blüte	n	flower	CDC
	bluten	vb	to bleed	ASD
	Kerbel	n.masc	chervil	ASD
N-Germanic
Old Norse:	blóm	n.neut	bloom	LRC
Old Icelandic:	blōð	n.str.neut	blood	GED
Icelandic:	blað	n	blade	CDC
	blessa/ble(t)za	vb	to bless	ASD
	blōð	n.neut	blood	ASD
	blōm	n.neut	bloom	CDC
	blōmi	n.masc	bloom	CDC
	blōmstr	n.masc	blossom	ASD
	blōt	n.neut	sacrifice	ASD
	blæða	vb	to bleed	CDC
	kerfill	n.masc	chervil	ASD
Danish:	blod	n.neut	blood	ASD
	blomme	n	bloom	CDC
	blomst	n	flower	CDC
	blöde	vb	to bleed	ASD
	kiörvel	n.masc/fem	chervil	ASD
Swedish:	blad	n	blade	CDC
	blod	n.neut	blood	ASD
	blomma	n.fem	bloom	CDC
	blomster	n.neut	blossom	ASD
	blöda	vb	to bleed	ASD
	kyrfvel	n.masc	chervil	ASD
E-Germanic
Gothic:	bleiþs	adj	kind, merciful	ASD
	bleiþyan	vb	to have mercy	ASD
	blōma	n	bloom	RPN
	bloþ	n.neut	blood	GED/IEW
Crimean Gothic:	*blut/plut	n.neut	blood	CGo/GED
Italic
Latin:	caerefolium	n.neut	chervil	ASD
	effloresco, efflorescere	vb	to effloresce	W7
	floreo, florēre	vb	to blossom, flourish	W7
	flōrēscō, flōrēscere	vb	to blossom, begin to flourish	W7
	floridus	adj	blooming, flowery	W7
	flōs, flōris	n.masc	flower, blossom	RPN
	foliatus, foliata, foliatum	vb.ptc	having leaves	W7
	folio	n.neut.abl	in leaves	W7
	folium	n.neut	leaf	W7
	millefolium	n.neut	milfoil	W7
	quinquefolium	n.neut	with five leaves	W7
	trifolium	n.neut	with three leaves	W7
Vulgar Latin:	florio, florīre	vb	to bloom	W7
Late Latin:	defloro, deflorāre	vb	to deflower	W7
	defolio, defoliāre, defoliātus	vb	to defoliate	W7
	exfolio, exfoliāre, exfoliātus	vb	to exfoliate, strip of leaves	W7
	-florus	sfx	flowering, blossoming	W7
New Latin:	Flora	n.fem	Flora	W7
	flora	n.neut.pl	flora, plants of a region	W7
	folium	n.neut	leaf, page of a manuscript	W7
	perfoliata	n.fem	herb having leaves pierced by stem	W7
	-phyllum	sfx	leaf	W7
	-phyllus	sfx	having leaf-like parts	W7
Portuguese:	fôlha	n	foil	TLL
Spanish:	hoja	n	foil	TLL
Old French:	flor	n.fem	flower	W7
	flour	n.fem	flower	W7
	foil	n.masc	foil	W7
	foillet	n.masc.dim	small foil	W7
	milfoil	n.fem	milfoil	W7
Middle French:	blee	n	grain	W7
	cincfoille	n.masc	cinquefoil	W7
	deflorer	vb	to deflower	W7
	emblaement	n.masc	space sown with grain	W7
	emblaer	vb	to sow with grain	W7
	fleur	n.fem	flower	W7
	florin	n.masc	florin	W7
	florir, florissé	vb	to flourish	W7
	flour	n.fem	flower	W7
	flouret	n.fem.dim	small flower	W7
	foille	n.fem	foil	W7
	fuellage	n.masc	foliage	W7
	passefleur	n.fem	pasqueflower	W7
	trefeuil	n.masc	clover	W7
French:	blé	n	grain, wheat	LRC
	chèvrefeuille	n.masc	honeysuckle, lit. goatleaf	LRC
	feuille	n.masc	foil	TLL
	feuillet	n.masc	leaflet, sheet of paper	W7
	feuilleton	n.masc	soap; feuilleton	W7
	mille-fleur(s)	n	millefleur	AHD
Old Italian:	fiore	n.fem	flower	W7
	fiorino	n.masc	florin	W7
Italian:	cabolfiore	n.masc	cauliflower	W7
	cavolo	n.masc	cabbage	W7
	fiore	n.masc	flower	W7
	fioretto, fioretti	n.masc	little flower	W7
	foglia	n	foil	TLL
	portafòglio	n.masc	wallet, portfolio	W7
	portare	vb	to carry	W7
Hellenic
Greek:	φύλλον	n.neut	leaf	RPN
	-phyllos	afx	leaf, leaves	W7
Indic
Sanskrit:	phal	vb	to burst, blossom	ASD
Tocharian
Tocharian B:	pilta	n	leaf	RPN
Tocharian A:	pält	n	leaf	RPN

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
abl	=	ablative (case)
adj	=	adjective
afx	=	affix
dim	=	diminutive
fem	=	feminine (gender)
intrans	=	intransitive
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
neut	=	neuter (gender)
pl	=	plural (number)
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)
CGo	=	MacDonald Stearns, Jr: Crimean Gothic (1978)
GED	=	Winfred P. Lehmann: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986)
IEW	=	Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959)
LRC	=	Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
MEV	=	J.R.R. Tolkien: A Middle English Vocabulary (1922)
RPN	=	Allan R. Bomhard: Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic (2002)
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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