The University of Texas at Austin; College of Liberal Arts

Hans C. Boas, Director :: PCL 5.556, 1 University Station S5490 :: Austin, TX 78712 :: 512-471-4566

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: 2. al- 'to grow, nourish, enhance'

Semantic Field: to Grow

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
Celtic
Old Irish:	al	n	bank	GED
	alim	vb	to nourish, bring up	GED
	alt	n	height, bank	GED
	altae	adj	adult	GED
	altram	n	nourishment	GED
	altru	n	foster-father	GED
Welsh:	athraw	n	teacher	GED
English
Old English:	alan	vb.str	to nourish	GED
	aldor	n.masc	chief, prince, lit. elder	ASD
	(e)ald	adj	old	GED
	eal(d)dōm	n.str.masc/neut	old age	GED
	ealdor	n.str.masc	elder, parent, prince; life	LRC
	ealdor-mon(n)	n.masc	nobleman, lit. elder man	ASD
	ield(o)	n.str.fem	age	GED
	ieldra	adj.comp	elder, older	GED
	or-eald	adj	very-old, lit. from (of) old	ASD
	wer-old	n.str.fem	era, world	GED
	ylde	n.str.fem	age	GED
Middle English:	abolisshen	vb	to abolish	W7
	adolescent	adj	adolescent	AHD
	alde/old(e)	adj	old	MEV
	alderman	n	English administrator	W7
	aliment	n	aliment	W7
	altitude	n	altitude	W7
	elder	n	elder	W7
	enhauncen	vb	to enhance	W7
	exalten	vb	to exalt	W7
	haute	adj	haughty	W7
	hawser	n	hawser, large rope for ships	W7
English:	abolish	vb.trans	to annul, cancel, do away with	AHD/W7
	adolescent	n	young teenager (typically 11-15 years)	AHD/W7
	adult	adj	grown person	AHD/W7
	alderman	n	English administrator	AHD/W7
	Aldor	prop.n	3rd Rohan king in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	alible	adj	nourishing, having nutrients	AHD
	aliment	n	food, nutriment	AHD/W7
	alimony	n	monetary allowance	AHD/W7
	alt	adj/n	(re:) 1st octave above treble staff	AHD
	alth(a)ea	n	hollycock, marsh mallow	AHD/OED
	altimeter	n	height measurement tool	AHD/W7
	altiplano	n	high plain or plateau	AHD/W7
	altitude	n	height above ground	AHD/W7
	alto	n	second highest voice/musical range	AHD/W7
	altocumulus	n	a cirrus-like dark cloud	AHD/W7
	altostratus	n	a fleecy, shaded, globular cloud	AHD/W7
	altricial	adj	bearing helpless young	AHD/W7
	alumnus	n	graduate of a school or college	AHD/W7
	coalesce	vb.intrans	to merge, fuse	AHD/W7
	elder	adj/n	older (person)	AHD/W7
	eldest	adj/n	oldest (person)	AHD/W7
	enhance	vb.trans	to augment, intensify	AHD/W7
	exalt	vb	to raise on high with honor	AHD/W7
	haughty	adj	disdainfully proud	AHD/W7
	hautboy/hautbois	n	oboe	AHD
	hawser	n	rope for ship towing	AHD/W7
	old	adj	aged, ancient	AHD/W7
	Oldbuck	prop.n	hobbit surname in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	Orald	prop.n	a.k.a. Tom Bombadil in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	proletarian	n	belonging to the lower class	AHD/W7
	proliferate	vb	to grow/multiply rapidly	AHD
	proliferous	adj	reproducing freely via buds/branches	AHD
	prolific	adj	fertile, abundant	AHD/W7
Scots English:	auld	adj	old	W7
W-Germanic
Old Frisian:	ald	adj	old	GED
	warld/wrald	n.fem	world	ASD
Frisian:	aod/aud/oad	adj	old	ASD
Dutch:	onder-dom	n	lifetime	ASD
	oud	adj	old	ASD
	ouder	n	elder, parent	TLL
Old Saxon:	ald	adj	old	GED
	aldar	n.str.neut	age	GED
	eldī	n.str.fem	age	GED
	wer-old	n.str.fem	world, men; era, lifetime	GED
Old High German:	alt	adj	old	GED
	altar	n.str.neut	age	GED
	alt-duam	n.str.masc/neut	old age	GED
	altī	n.str.fem	age	GED
	altiro	adj.comp	older	GED
	alt-tuom	n.str.masc/neut	old age	GED
	eltī	n.str.fem	age	GED
	ur-alt	adj	very old	ASD
	wer-alt	n.str.fem	world; era	GED
Middle High German:	alt	adj	old	ASD
	alter	n.neut	age	ASD
German:	alt	adj	old	ASD
	Alter	n.neut	age	LRC
	Elter	n.masc	elder, parent	LRC
N-Germanic
Old Norse:	ala	vb.str	to bear, beget, give birth to; feed	LRC
	elska, elskað	vb	to love	LRC
	ǫld	n.fem	age; mankind; world	LRC
Old Icelandic:	ala	vb.str	to beget	GED
	aldinn	adj	aged	GED
	aldr	n.masc	age, time of life	GED
	elli	n.fem	age	GED
	ellri	adj.comp	older	GED
	ver-ǫld	n.str.fem	world; era	GED
	ældri	adj.comp	older	GED
	ællri	adj.comp	older	GED
	ǫld	n.fem	age	GED
Icelandic:	aldr	n.masc	age, life, period	ASD
	ver-öld	n.fem	world	ASD
Norwegian:	elja	vb	to fatten	GED
Danish:	alder	n.masc/fem	age	ASD
	forælder	n	parent	TLL
Swedish:	förälder	n	parent	TLL
	ålder	n.masc	age	ASD
E-Germanic
Gothic:	*alan	vb.str.VI	to grow	GED
	*aldomo	n.masc/neut	old age	GED
	*alds	n.fem	age, generation	GED
	*aljan	vb.wk.I.caus	to fatten	GED
	alþeis	adj	old	GED
	alþiza	adj.comp	older	GED
	*fram-aldrs	adj	aged	GED
	*us-alþans	ptc.past.ua.adj	silly	GED
Crimean Gothic:	alt	adj	old	GED
Italic
Latin:	aboleo, abolēre	vb	to destroy, abolish	W7
	abolēsco, abolēscere	vb	to decay, disappear gradually	W7
	adolescens, adolescentis	adj	adolescent	W7
	adolēscō, adolēscere	vb	to grow up	GED
	adultus	adj	adult, mature, grown up	GED
	alēsco, alēscere	vb	to grow, flourish	GED
	alibilis	adj	alible	AHD
	alimentum	n.neut	aliment	W7
	alimonia	n.fem	sustenance, nourishment	W7
	alō, alere, altus	vb	to nourish	GED
	althea	n	althaea	AHD
	altitudo	n.fem	height, depth	W7
	altor	n.masc	one who nourishes	W7
	altrix, altricis	n.fem	one who nourishes	W7
	altus, alta, altum	adj	high, deep	LRC
	alumnus/alumna	n.masc/fem	nursling, foster-child	W7
	coalesco, coalescere	vb	to unite	W7
	exalto, exaltare	vb	to exalt	W7
	prōlēs	n.fem	offspring, progeny, descendants	GED
	proletarius	adj	re: common people	W7
Vulgar Latin:	altio, altiare	vb	to pull high	W7
	inaltio, inaltiare	vb	to enhance, make higher/bigger	W7
New Latin:	altocumulus	n.masc	altocumulus: type of cloud	W7
	altostratus	n.masc	altostratus: type of cloud	W7
American Spanish:	altiplano	n.masc	plateau	W7
Old French:	abolir	vb	to destroy, abolish	AHD
	adolescent	adj	adolescent	AHD
	enhaucier	vb	to enhance	W7
	hautbois	n	hautbois	AHD
Anglo-French:	enhauncer	vb	to enhance	W7
	hauceour	vb	to hoist	W7
Middle French:	abolir, abolisse	vb	to destroy, abolish	W7
	exalter	vb	to exalt	W7
	haucier	vb	to hoist	W7
	haut	adj	high	W7
French:	adolescent	n.masc	youth, adolescent	W7
	hautbois	n	hautboy	AHD
	prolifique	adj	prolific	W7
Italian:	alto	adj	high, deep	W7
Hellenic
Hesychius' Greek Lexicon:	ἀλτρός	n	payment	GED
Greek:	ἀλθαίνω	vb	to heal	GED
	ἄν-αλτος	adj	insatiable	GED
	νεᾱλής	adj	fresh, strong	GED
Indic
Sanskrit:	an-alas	n	fire, god of fire	GED

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
I	=	class 1
VI	=	class 6
adj	=	adjective
caus	=	causative
comp	=	comparative
fem	=	feminine (gender)
intrans	=	intransitive
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
neut	=	neuter (gender)
past	=	past (tense)
prop	=	proper
ptc	=	participle
str	=	strong (inflection)
trans	=	transitive
ua	=	used as
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)
GED	=	Winfred P. Lehmann: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986)
LRC	=	Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
MEV	=	J.R.R. Tolkien: A Middle English Vocabulary (1922)
OED	=	James A.H. Murray et al: The Oxford English Dictionary (1933)
TLL	=	Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944)
W7	=	Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

Nearby etyma: previous | next