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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 and fonts spanning the Unicode 3 character set relevant to Indo-European languages. Versions of this page rendered in alternate character sets are available via links (see Unicode 2 and ISO-8859-1) in the left margin.

Pokorny Etymon: ak^u̯ā-, more accurately ək^u̯ā, ēk^u̯- 'aqua, water, river'

Semantic Fields: Water; Brook, Stream, River

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
Celtic
Old Irish:	ab	n	river	LRC
English
Old English:	ǣ-spring/ǣ-sprynge	n.neut	fountain, lit. water-spring	ODE/ASD
	ē(a)gor-strēam	n.masc	current, lit. sea-stream	LRC
	*eah/eā/ǣ	n.fem	aqua, river	CDC/ASD
	*ēget	n	ait	CDC
	ēg(or)	n.fem	sea, aqua	ASD
	ēgor-here	n.masc	deluge, lit. water-host	ASD
	īg(e)	n.fem	ait	W7
	īg(e)oþ/iggaþ/iggoþ	n.masc	ait	ASD
	īgland	n.neut	island	W7
Middle English:	ait/æit/eyt	n	ait	W7
	aqua	n	aqua	AHD
	aquatique	adj	aquatic	AHD
	ewer	n	ewer	W7
	island	n	island	W7
	sewer	n	sewer	W7
English:	ai(gh)t	n	islet, small island	AHD/W7
	aqua-/aque-/aqui-	pfx	water	LRC
	aqua	n	water; aqueous solution	W7
	aquamarine	n	green/blue gem	AHD/W7
	aquanaut	n	one who lives/works underwater	AHD
	aquarelle	n	water-color painting	AHD/W7
	aquarium	n	tank for aquatic creatures	AHD/W7
	aquatic	adj	re: (growing/living in/on) water	W7
	aquatint	n	etching process producing print like ink/wash drawing	AHD
	aquavit	n	Scandinavian liquor	AHD/W7
	aqueduct	n	water conduit	AHD/W7
	aqueous	adj	re: water	W7
	aquifer	n	layer of earth/stone/gravel yielding water	AHD
	ewer	n	water pitcher	AHD/W7
	gouache	n	type of paint	AHD/W7
	island	n	land (smaller than continent) surrounded by water	AHD/W7
	Rushey	prop.n	Marish locale in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	sewer	n	waste-water conduit	AHD/W7
W-Germanic
Old Frisian:	ā/ē	n	aqua, river	CDC
Dutch:	eiland	n	island	TLL
Old Saxon:	aha	n	aqua, river	CDC
Old High German:	aha	n	river	LRC
Middle High German:	ahe	n	river	CDC
German:	Aa	prop.n	(name of) a river	CDC
	Aquarell	n.neut	aquarelle	LRC
	Aquarium	n.neut	aquarium	LRC
N-Germanic
Old Norse:	ey	n.fem	island	LRC
	eybarmr	n.masc	island surface	LRC
	eyjarskeggi	n.masc	island inhabitant	LRC
	eyland	n.neut	island	W7
Icelandic:	ā	n	aqua, river	CDC
	ey	n	ait	ASD
	eyland	n	island	ASD
	ægir	n.masc	the sea	ASD
Norwegian:	akvavit	n	aquavit	W7
Danish:	aa	n	brook	CDC
	halvø	n	peninsula	TLL
	ø	n	island	TLL
Swedish:	ȃ	n	brook	CDC
	aquavit	n	aquavit	W7
	halvö	n	peninsula	TLL
	ö	n	island	TLL
E-Germanic
Gothic:	aƕa	n	river	LRC
Italic
Latin:	a(c)quarius	adj	re: aqua	W7
	aqua	n.fem	aqua	W7
	aquaeductus	n.masc	aqueduct	AHD
	aquamarina	n	seawater	CDC
	aquarium	n.neut	aquarium	W7
	aquaticus	adj	re: aqua	CDC
	aquatio	n.fem	act of fetching water	W7
	aquatus	vb.ptc	watered	W7
	aquor, aquari	vb	to fetch water	W7
	Oceanus, Oceani	n.masc	ocean	LRC
Vulgar Latin:	aquarium	n.neut	ewer	W7
	exaquo, exaquāre	vb	to drain	W7
Medieval Latin:	aqueus	adj	aqueous	AHD
Portuguese:	agua	n	aqua	CDC
Spanish:	agua	n	aqua	LRC
Old French:	aquatique	adj	aquatic	AHD
	aqueduct	n	aqueduct	CDC
	evier	n.masc	ewer, sink, sewer	W7
Anglo-French:	ewer	n.masc	ewer	W7
Middle French:	essewer	vb	to drain	W7
	esseweur	n.masc	sewer	W7
	seweur	n.masc	sewer	W7
French:	aquarelle	n.fem	aquarelle	W7
	aquatinte	n	aquatint	AHD
	aqueduc	n.masc	aqueduct	CDC
	eau	n.fem	aqua	CDC
	gouache	n.fem	gouache	W7
Italian:	acqua	n.fem	aqua	W7
	acquarella	n.fem	aquarelle	W7
	acquarello	n.masc	aquarelle	W7/CID
	acquatinta	n	aquatint	AHD
	acquerèllo	n.masc	aquarelle	W7/CID
Baltic
Old Prussian:	ape	n	river	LRC
Lithuanian:	ùpẹ	n	river	LRC
Anatolian
Hittite:	ak(k)-/ek(k)-	n	drink	LRC
Indic
Sanskrit:	ā́pas	n	waters	LRC
Tocharian
Tokharian:	yok	n	drink	LRC

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
adj	=	adjective
fem	=	feminine (gender)
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
neut	=	neuter (gender)
pfx	=	prefix
prop	=	proper
ptc	=	participle
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)
CID	=	Cassell's Italian Dictionary (1958)
LRC	=	Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
ODE	=	C.T. Onions: The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (1966)
TLL	=	Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944)
W7	=	Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

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