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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: *(s)p(h)ereg-, (s)p(h)erəg-, (s)p(h)rēg-, nasalized spreng- 'to rush, hurry; strew, sprinkle, disperse'

Semantic Fields: to Hurry, Hasten; to Strew, Spread Out

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
English
Old English:	besprecan	vb.str.V	to tell, plead, pretend, speak to/about	AHD/ASD
	spearca	n.masc	spark	W7/ASD
	spearc(i)an	vb	to spark, sparkle	IEW/ASD
	specan, spæc, spǣcon, specen	vb.str.V	to speak, say	W7/ASD
	sp(r)ǣc/sprēc	n.fem	speech	W7/ASD
	sprecan, spræc, sprǣcon, sprecen	vb.str.V	to speak, say	LRC
Middle English:	bispeken	vb	to bespeak, speak out	AHD
	dysparsen	vb	to disperse	W7
	frakne	n	freckle	W7
	frekel	n	freckle	W7
	sparke	n	spark	W7
	sparken	vb	to spark	W7
	sparklen	vb.freq	to sparkle	W7
	speche	n	speech	W7
	speken	vb	to speak	W7
	sprenklen	vb	to sprinkle	W7
	sprinclen	vb	to sprinkle	W7
English:	asparagus	n	Old World perennial plant with edible shoots	W7
	asperse	vb.trans	to sprinkle (with holy water)	AHD/W7
	bespeak, bespoke, bespoken	vb.str.trans	to hire, engage, claim beforehand	AHD/W7
	disperse	vb	to cause to scatter in different directions	AHD/W7
	freak	vb.trans	to streak/stripe (with color)	IEW/W7
	freckle	n	small brownish spot on skin	AHD/W7
	intersperse	vb.trans	to insert among other things	AHD/W7
	sparge	vb.trans	to sprinkle, bespatter	AHD/W7
	spark	n	flash, hot glowing particle	IEW/W7
	spark	vb	to emit spark	W7
	sparkle	vb	to emit sparks	IEW
	sparse	adj	few, scattered	AHD/W7
	speak, spoke/spake, spoken	vb.str	to talk, utter/articulate words/sounds with ordinary voice	AHD/W7
	speech	n	vocal expression/communication of thoughts in words	AHD/W7
	sprag	n	pointed bar/stake on vehicle to prevent rolling when halted	AHD/W7
	sprinkle	vb	to scatter in drops/particles	AHD/W7
	spry	adj	brisk, vigorously active	AHD/W7
	spurry	n	small white-flowered European plant	AHD/W7
British English:	bespoke	adj/vb.ptc	custom-made	W7
W-Germanic
Old Frisian:	spreka	vb	to speak, say	ASD
	sprēke	n	speech	ASD
Dutch:	asperge	n	asparagus	TLL
	sproach	n	speech	LRC
	spurrie	n	spurry	W7
Old Saxon:	sprāka	n	speech	ASD
	sprekan	vb	to speak, say	ASD
Old High German:	sprāhha	n	speech, language	ASD
	sprehhan	vb	to speak	W7
Middle High German:	spreckel	n	spot	W7
	sprenkel	n	spot	W7
German:	Spargel	n	asparagus	TLL
	Sprache	n.fem	speech	LRC
	sprechen	vb	to speak	LRC
	Sprenkel	n.masc	spot, speckle	LRC
	sprenkeln	vb	to spot, speckle, dapple; sprinkle	LRC
N-Germanic
Old Norse:	freknōttr	adj	freckled	W7
Danish:	asparges	n	asparagus	TLL
	sprog	n	speech	LRC
Swedish:	sparris	n	asparagus	TLL
	spragge	n	branch	W7
	sprygg	adj	spry	W7
	språk	n	speech	LRC
Italic
Latin:	asparagus	n	asparagus	LRC
	aspergo, aspergere	vb	to sprinkle, splatter	W7
	aspersus	vb.ptc	sprinkled, splattered	W7
	dispergo, dispergere	vb	to scatter	W7
	dispersus	vb.ptc	scattered	W7
	interspersus	vb.ptc	interspersed	W7
	spargō, spargere, sparsī, sparsum	vb	to strew, sprinkle	LRC
	spargo, spargere	vb	to scatter	W7
	sparsus	vb.ptc	scattered	W7
Medieval Latin:	spergula	n.fem	spurry	W7
Middle French:	disperser	vb	to disperse	W7
	espargier	vb	to sparge	W7
Hellenic
Homeric Greek:	σφᾰρᾰγέομαι	vb	to hiss, crackle, sputter	LS
Greek:	ἀ-σφάρᾰγος	n.fem	asparagus	LS
	σφᾰρᾰγίζω	vb	to stir up with noise/bustle	LS

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
V	=	class 5
adj	=	adjective
fem	=	feminine (gender)
freq	=	frequentative (aspect)
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
ptc	=	participle
str	=	strong (inflection)
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)
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.
TLL	=	Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944)
W7	=	Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

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