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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 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: meg̑(h)- : m_eg̑(h)- 'big, much, great, major, mega-'

Semantic Field: Big, Large, Great

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
English
Old English:	magister/mægister	n.masc	master, leader	W7/ASD
	micel/mycel	adj/adv	mickle	LRC
Middle English:	amaistrien	vb	to master	MEV
	magistrat	n	magistrate	W7
	magnate	n	magnate	W7
	magnifien	vb	to magnify	W7
	magnitude	n	magnitude	W7
	maieste	n	majesty	W7
	maiour	adj	major	W7
	maire	n	mayor	W7
	maistresse	n	mistress	W7
	master	n	master	W7
	maxime	n	maxim	W7
	May	prop.n	May	W7
	mikel/michel	adj	mickle	W7
	muchel/muche	adj	much, large	W7
English:	acromegaly	n	chronic hyperpituitarism (enlargement of feet/hands)	AHD/W7
	cardiomegaly	n	abnormal heart enlargement	AHD
	maestoso	adj	stately, majestic	AHD/W7
	maestro	n	master (in art/music)	AHD/W7
	magisterial	adj	authoritative, re: characteristics of master/teacher	AHD/W7
	magistral	adj	magisterial, re: master	AHD/W7
	magistrate	n	official charged with administration of laws	AHD/W7
	magnate	n	person of rank/power/influence/distinction	AHD/W7
	magnific	adj	magnificent	AHD/W7
	magnificent	adj	great in deed/place	AHD/W7
	magnifico	n	nobleman of Venice	AHD/W7
	magnify	vb	to laud, extol	AHD/W7
	magniloquent	adj	grandiloquent, lofty/extravagant in speech	AHD
	magnitude	n	greatness of character/position	AHD/W7
	magnum	n	large wine bottle (ca. 2/5 gallon)	AHD/W7
	maharaja(h)	n	king/prince in India	AHD
	maharani/maharanee	n	maharajah's wife	AHD
	maharishi	n	teacher of mysticism/spiritual knowledge (Hinduism)	AHD
	mahatma	n	person revered for wisdom/selflessness/high-mindedness	AHD/W7
	majesty	n	sovereign power/dignity/authority	AHD/W7
	major	adj	greater in rank/dignity, interest/importance	AHD/W7
	major-domo	n	head butler/steward in noble's household	AHD
	majority	n	more than half, greater part/number	AHD
	majuscule	n	large (e.g. capital) letter	AHD/W7
	master	n	male leader/teacher	AHD/W7
	master	vb	to control, overcome, become master	W7
	maxim	n	general truth, rule of conduct, fundamental principle	AHD/W7
	maximum	n	greatest value/quantity attained/attainable	AHD/W7
	May	prop.n	5th month (in Gregorian calendar)	AHD/W7
	mayor	n	nominal head/chief executive of city/borough	AHD/W7
	mega-	pfx	great, large	AHD/W7
	megal(o)-	pfx	great, exaggerated in size/greatness	AHD
	megalocardia	n	cardiomegaly	AHD
	megalopolis	n	region of large adjacent cities	AHD
	Meistersinger	prop.n	master of 14th-16th century German guild cultivating traditions of medieval Minnesingers	W7
	mickle	adj/adv	much, great; very	AHD/W7
	mister	n	sir, master, man without title	AHD/W7
	mistral	n	strong cold dry north(west) wind	AHD/W7
	mistress	n	woman with power/ownership/authority	AHD/W7
	much	adj	great in amount/degree/extent/quantity	AHD/W7
	omega	n	last letter in Greek alphabet	AHD
W-Germanic
Old Saxon:	mikil	adj	mickle	ASD
Old High German:	mihhil/michil	adj	mickle	W7/ASD
Middle High German:	meistersinger	n.masc	Meistersinger, lit. master-singer	W7
German:	Meistersinger	n.masc	Meistersinger	W7
N-Germanic
Old Norse:	mjǫk	adj/adv	much; very	LRC
Icelandic:	mikill	adj	mickle	ASD
Danish:	megen	adj	mickle	TLL
Swedish:	mycken	adj	mickle	TLL
E-Germanic
Gothic:	mikilei	n.wk.fem	greatness	LRC
	mikils	adj	mickle	LRC
Italic
Latin:	magis	adv	more	LRC
	magister, magistri	n.masc	master, professor	W7
	magistralis	adj	of a master/professor	W7
	magistratus	n.masc	magistracy, magistrate	W7
	magnifico, magnificare	vb	to magnify	W7
	magnificus	adj	magnificent, noble in character	W7
	magnitudo, magnitudinis	n.fem	size, greatness	LRC
	magnus, magna, magnum	adj	large, great	LRC
	Maia	prop.n.fem	Roman goddess	W7
	Maius	prop.n.masc	May	LRC
	majestas, majestatis	n.fem	majesty	W7
	major/maior	adj.comp	major, larger	W7
	majusculus	adj	rather large (diminutive)	W7
	maximus, maxima, maximum	adj.sup/n	greatest; greatest/highest thing	W7
Late Latin:	magister	n.masc	master, professor	W7
	magisterialis	adj	re: authority	W7
	magisterium	n.neut	office of a master	W7
	magistralis	adj	of the master/professor	W7
	magnates	n.masc	magnate	W7
Portuguese:	mas	conj	but	TLL
Spanish:	mas	conj	but	TLL
Old French:	amaistrier	vb	to master	MEV
	mai	n.masc	May	W7
	maire	n.masc	mayor, headmaster	W7
	maistre	n.masc	master	W7
	maistresse	n.fem	mistress	W7
	majesté	n.fem	majesty	W7
Middle French:	magnifier	vb	to magnify, make larger	W7
	magnifique	adj	magnificent	W7
	maistresse	n.fem	mistress	W7
	maxime	n.fem	maxim, saying	W7
French:	acromégalie	n.fem	acromegaly	W7
	mais	conj	but	TLL
	majuscule	adj	capital	W7
	mistral	n.masc	mistral	W7/R1
Provençal:	mistral	adj	masterful	W7
Italian:	ma	conj	but	TLL
	maestà	n.fem	majesty	W7
	maestoso	adj	majestic, stately	W7/CID
	maèstro	n.masc	master, teacher	W7
	magnifico	adj	magnificent	W7
Hellenic
Greek:	μεγάθης	n.fem	height	LRC
	μεγᾰλει̃ος	adj	mighty, splendid, magnificent	LRC
	μεγάλος	adj	great	LRC
	μεγάλως	adv	greatly	LRC
	μέγᾰς	adj	big, tall, great	LRC
	μέγεθος	n.neut	size	LRC
Indic
Sanskrit:	mahant	adj	great	W7
	mahātman	adj	great-souled	W7

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
adj	=	adjective
adv	=	adverb(ial)
comp	=	comparative
conj	=	conjunction
fem	=	feminine (gender)
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
neut	=	neuter (gender)
pfx	=	prefix
prop	=	proper
sup	=	superlative
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)
CID	=	Cassell's Italian Dictionary (1958)
LRC	=	Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
MEV	=	J.R.R. Tolkien: A Middle English Vocabulary (1922)
R1	=	Josette Rey-Debove and Alain Rey, eds. Le Nouveau Petit Robert (1993)
TLL	=	Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944)
W7	=	Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

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