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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: bheleg- 'to shine, glisten'

Semantic Field: to Shine, Glisten

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
English
Old English:	bǣl	n	flame, funeral pyre	W7/ASD
	blāc/blǣc	adj	bleak, white, shining	W7/CDC
	blācern/blǣcern	n	lantern	RPN
	blæc	adj/n	black; ink	W7/CDC
	blǣc(e)an	vb	to bleach	W7/CDC
	*blanc/blanca	n	poetic white/gray horse	CDC
	blencan	vb	to blink	W7
	blīcan	vb	to shine	ODE
Middle English:	blak/blac	adj	black	W7/MEV
	blake/bloke	adj	bleak, white, shining	CDC/ODE
	blanch/blank	adj	blank	CDC
	blanke/blonke	adj	blank	CDC
	blanket/blonket	n	blanket	W7/CDC
	bla(u)nche	adj	blanched	CDC
	bla(u)nchen	vb	to blanch	W7/CDC
	blechen	vb	to bleach	W7
	blek(e)	adj	bleak; black	W7/CDC
	blenchen/blinchen	vb	to blench	W7/CDC
	blenken	vb	to blink	W2I
	blīkan	vb	to shine	CDC
	enflamen	vb	to inflame	W7
	flaum(b)e	n	flame	W7
	fleume	n	phlegm	W7
	fulgent	adj	fulgent	W7
	fulminaten	vb	to fulminate	W7
English:	black	adj	extremely dark	AHD/W7
	blacken	vb	to darken, make black	LRC
	Blackroot	prop.n	vale in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	blacksmith	n	one who shapes/forges iron with hammer/anvil	AHD
	blanch	vb	to whiten, remove color	AHD/W7
	blank	adj	white, colorless	AHD/W7
	blanket	n	woven fabric used as bed covering	AHD/W7
	bleach	vb	to remove color/stains	AHD/W7
	bleak	adj.obs/dial	wan, pale, pallid, without color	AHD/W2I
	bleak	vb.obs	to bleach	W2I
	blench	vb.intrans	to flinch/draw back/turn aside due to lack of courage	AHD/W7
	blink	vb	to deceive (obs.); twinkle; look/glance/glimpse	W2I/ODE
	conflagrant	adj	blazing, burning	AHD/W7
	conflagration	n	fire	AHD/W7
	deflagrate	vb	to burn with sudden/sparkling combustion	AHD/W7
	flagrant	adj	glowing, flaming	AHD/W7
	flambé	vb	to drench with liquor and ignite	AHD
	flambeau	n	flaming torch	AHD/W7
	flamboyant	adj	having wavy curves suggesting flames	AHD/W7
	flame	n	glowing gaseous part of fire	AHD/W7
	flamingo	n	aquatic bird with long neck/legs	AHD/W7
	flammable	adj	subject to easy ignition/rapid burning	AHD/W7
	fulgent	adj	dazzlingly bright	AHD/W7
	fulgurate	vb.trans	to emit (lightning) flashes	AHD/W7
	fulminate	vb	to utter/send out with denunciation	AHD/W7
	inflame	vb	to kindle, set on fire	AHD/W7
	Phlegethon	prop.n	river of fire in Hades (Greek mythology)	LRC
	phlegm	n	one of 4 humors in early physiology	AHD/W7
	phlegmatic	adj	re: phlegm	AHD
	phlogiston	n	former hypothetical principle of fire (as material substance)	AHD/W7
	phlox	n	American annual/perennial herb with variously coloured flowers	AHD/W7
Scots English:	blonk	adj	blank	CDC
W-Germanic
Old Frisian:	blīka	vb	to shine	CDC
Middle Dutch:	blinken	vb	to blink; shine, glitter	ODE
	Vlaminc	n	Fleming	W7
Dutch:	blaken	vb	to burn, scorch, blacken	CDC
	blakeren	vb	to scorch, blacken	CDC
	blank	adj	blank, shining	CDC
	blecken	vb	to bleach	CDC
	bleek	adj	bleak	CDC
	blijken	vb	to look, appear	ODE
	blinken	vb	to blink; shine	W2I
	vlam	n	flame	TLL
Old Saxon:	blēk	adj	bleak, white, shining	ODE
	blīkan	vb	to shine	CDC
Middle Low German:	black	n	ink	CDC
	blaken	vb	to blacken, burn with much smoke	CDC
	blank	adj	blank, shining	CDC
	blēk	adj	bleak	CDC
Low German:	black	n	ink	CDC
	blek	adj	bleak	CDC
	verblekken	vb	to scorch, blacken	CDC
Old High German:	bla(c)h	adj	black	W7/CDC
	blanch	adj	blank, white	W7
	bleichēn	vb	to bleach	CDC
	bleih	adj	bleak, white, shining	ODE
	blīhhan	vb	to shine	CDC
Middle High German:	black	n	ink	CDC
	blanc	adj	blank, shining, bright	CDC
	bleich	adj	bleak	CDC
	bleichen	vb	to bleach	CDC
	blīcan	vb	to grow bleak	CDC
German:	blaken	vb	to blacken, burn with much smoke	CDC
	blank	adj	blank, bright, shining	CDC
	blanko	adj	blank, plain	LRC
	bleich	adj	bleak	CDC
	bleichen	vb	to bleach, grow bleak	CDC
	blinken	vb	to blink; shine, flash, twinkle	W2I
	Flamme	n.fem	flame	LRC
N-Germanic
Old Norse:	bleikr	adj	bleak, white, shining	ODE
	blekkja	vb	to impose on	W7
	blika/blíkja	vb	to shine, gleam, twinkle	ODE
Icelandic:	blakkr	adj	black	ASD
	blakkr	n	poetic horse/steed	CDC
	bleikja	vb	to bleach	CDC
	bleikr	adj	bleak	CDC
	blek	n	ink	CDC
	blekkja	vb	to deceive	CDC
	*blincan	vb	to blink; twinkle	CDC
	blīk(j)a	vb	to shine	CDC
Danish:	blak	adj	black, dark	CDC
	blank	adj	blank, shining	CDC
	bleg	adj	bleak	CDC
	blege	vb	to bleach	CDC
	blinke	vb	to blink, wink; twinkle	ODE
	blæk	n	ink	CDC
	flamme	n	flame	TLL
Swedish:	black	adj	black, dark, grayish	CDC
	blank	adj	blank, shining	CDC
	blek	adj	bleak	CDC
	bleka	vb	to bleach	CDC
	blinka	vb	to blink, wink; twinkle	ODE
	bläck	n	ink	CDC
	flamma	n	flame	TLL
Italic
Latin:	conflagrans, conflagrantis	adj/vb.ptc	burning	W7
	conflagratio, conflagrationis	n.fem	a burning together	W7
	conflagro, conflagrare, conflagratus	vb	to burn	W7
	deflagro, deflagrare, deflagratus	vb	to burn down	W7
	flagrans, flagrantis	adj/vb.ptc	burning, glowing	W7
	flagro, flagrare	vb	to burn, glow	W7
	flamma	n.fem	flame	W7
	flammo, flammare	vb	to flame, set on fire	W7
	flammula	n.fem	little flame	W7
	fulgens, fulgentis	adj/vb.ptc	shining	W7
	fulgeo, fulgēre	vb	to shine	W7
	fulgur, fulgor	n.neut	lightning	W7
	fulguro, fulgurare, fulguratus	vb	to flash with lightning	W7
	fulmen, fulminis	n.neut	lightning, a thunderbolt	W7
	fulmino, fulmināre, fulminātus	vb	to flash/strike with lightning	W7
	inflammo, inflammare	vb	to ignite	W7
	Phlegethon	n.masc	Phlegethon	W7
	phlox	n.fem	flower	W7
Middle Latin:	blancus	adj	blank	CDC
	blanketus/blanchetus	n	blanket	CDC
New Latin:	phlox	n.masc	genus of flowers	W7
Portuguese:	branco	adj	blank	CDC
	chama	n	flame	TLL
Spanish:	blanco	adj	blank	CDC
	flamenco	n.masc	a Spanish dance	W7
	llama	n	flame	TLL
Old French:	blanc(he)	adj	blank	W7
	blanchir	vb	to blanch, make white	CDC
	blanket	n	blanket	CDC
	blankete	n.fem	blanket	W7
	flambe	n.fem	flame	W7
	flamber	vb	to flame	AHD
	flamble	n.fem	flame	W7
	flamboyer	vb	to flame	W7
Middle French:	enflamer	vb	to inflame	W7
	flambeau	n.masc	torch	W7
	flamme, flambe	n.fem	flame	W7
French:	blanchet	n	blanket	CDC
	blanchir	vb	to blanch	CDC
	flambeau	n.masc	torch	W7
	flamboyant	adj	re: flame	W7
	flamboyer	vb	to flame, be ablaze	W7
	flamme	n.fem	flame	W7
Old Occitan:	blanc	adj	blank	CDC
Italian:	bianco	adj	blank	CDC
	fiamma	n	flame	TLL
Slavic
Old Church Slavonic:	blagъ	adj	good	RPN
Hellenic
Greek:	Phlegethōn	prop.n.masc	Phlegethon	W7
	phlegein	vb	to burn	W7
	phlegma	n.neut	flame, inflammation, phlegm	W7
	φλέγω	vb	to burn, blaze	RPN
	phlogizein	vb	to set on fire	W7
	phlogistos, phlogiston	adj	inflammable	W7
	phlox, phlogos	n.fem	flame	W7
Indic
Sanskrit:	bhárgas-	n	splendor, radiance	RPN
	bhrāj	vb	to shine	CDC

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
adj	=	adjective
dial	=	dialectal
fem	=	feminine (gender)
intrans	=	intransitive
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
neut	=	neuter (gender)
obs	=	obsolete
prop	=	proper
ptc	=	participle
trans	=	transitive
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)
CDC	=	W.D. Whitney and B.E. Smith: The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (1889-1911)
LRC	=	Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
MEV	=	J.R.R. Tolkien: A Middle English Vocabulary (1922)
ODE	=	C.T. Onions: The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (1966)
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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