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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: ambhi, m̥bhi 'around, at both sides'

Semantic Fields: Circle; to Wind, Wrap

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
Celtic
Old Irish:	imb-	adv/prep/pfx	about	GED
Gaulish:	amb-	adv/prep/pfx	about	GED
English
Old English:	bā/bū	adj/pron.neut	both	GED
	be/bi/bī	adv/prep/pfx	by, concerning	RPN
	bēgen	adj/pron.du.masc	both	GED
	ymbe/ymb-	adv/prep/pfx	at, around	LRC
Middle English:	alley	n	alley	W7
	ambidexter	n	double-dealer	AHD
	amblen	vb	to amble	AHD
	amis	n	amice	W7
	amphibena	n	amphisbaena	AHD
	amphitheatre	n	amphitheater	AHD
	amphora	n	amphora	AHD
	ba/bo	adj/pron	both	CDC
	be-	pfx	be-	W7
	bo	adv	too, as well	MEV
	both(e)/boþ(e)/bath(e)/booth	adj/pron	both	W7/MEV/CDC
	by/bi/be(o)	adv/prep	by	W7/MEV
	preamble	n	preamble	W7
English:	alley	n	narrow backstreet	AHD/W7
	ambi-	pfx	around, on both sides	AHD/W7
	ambidextrous	adj	using either hand with equal ease	AHD
	ambient	adj	encompassing, surrounding on all sides	AHD/W7
	ambiguous	adj	unclear, doubtful, equivocal	AHD
	ambivalence	n	simultaneous attraction/repulsion	AHD/W7
	amble	vb.intrans	to stroll, saunter, walk slowly	AHD/W7
	ambsace	n	bad luck; snake eyes (dice)	AHD/W7
	ambulance	n	vehicle for treating the injured	AHD/W7
	ambulate	vb.trans	to move from place to place	AHD/W7
	ambulatory	adj	re: walking	LRC
	amice	n	liturgical vestment worn about neck/shoulders under alb	AHD/W7
	amph(i)-	pfx	around, on both sides	AHD/W7
	amphibian	n	amphibious organism	AHD/W7
	amphibious	adj	adapted to both land and water	TLL
	amphibole	n	hornblende	AHD/W7
	amphibrach	n	metrical foot: short/unstressed + long/stressed + short/unstressed syllables	AHD/W7
	amphimacer	n	metrical foot: long/stressed + short/unstressed + long/stressed syllables	AHD/W7
	amphimixis	n	germ cell union in sexual reproduction	AHD/W7
	amphioxus	n	lancelet	AHD
	amphisbaena	n	serpent with head at each end able to move in either direction (classical mythology)	AHD
	amphistylar	adj	having columns on opposite sides	AHD
	amphitheater	n	oval/circular space/building/arena overlooking stage/platform	W7
	amphithecium	n	outer cell layer of spore-containing moss capsule	AHD
	amphora	n	two-handled jar/vase with narrow neck	AHD
	amphoteric	adj	substance acting as both acid and base	AHD/W7
	amplexicaul	adj	with base/stipules clasping stem	AHD
	amputate	vb.trans	to prune, cut/lop off	AHD
	andante	adj	moderately slow (musical direction)	AHD/W7
	be-	pfx	[participial marker]	AHD/W7
	both	adj/pron	two, one and another	AHD/W7
	by	prep	at, through, next/near to	AHD/W7
	Bywater	prop.n	Shire village in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	funambulist	n	tightrope walker	AHD/W7
	ombudsman	n	one who investigates complaints and mediates settlements	AHD
	perambulate	vb	to stroll, traverse	AHD/W7
	preamble	n	opening statement	AHD/W7
	umlaut	n	change of vowel sound	AHD/W7
British English:	amphitheatre	n	amphitheater	LRC
Scots English:	baith	adj/pron	both	CDC
W-Germanic
Old Frisian:	be/bi	prep	by	ASD
	bēde	adj/pron	both	CDC
	bēthe	adj/pron	both	GED
	umbe	prep	by, about	ASD
Middle Dutch:	bede	adj/pron	both	ASD
Dutch:	beide	adj/pron	both	ASD
	bij	prep	beside	TLL
	by	prep	by	ASD
	om	prep	after	TLL
	omdat	conj	because	TLL
	voorbij	prep	past, beyond	TLL
Old Saxon:	be/bi	prep	by	ASD
	bēþia/bēdea	adj/pron	both	GED/ASD
	bēþie	adj/pron	both	CDC
	umbi	prep	by, about	ASD
Low German:	beede	adj/pron	both	ASD
Old High German:	bēde/beide	adj/pron	both	GED
	bi/pi	adv/prep	by, concerning	RPN/ASD
	umbi/umpi	prep/adv	by, about	GED/ASD
Middle High German:	beide	adj/pron	both	CDC
	bi	prep	by	ASD
German:	Allee	n.fem	alley, parkway, avenue	LRC
	Ambivalenz	n.fem	ambivalence	AHD
	ambulant	adj	ambulatory	LRC
	Ambulanz	n.fem	ambulance, acute day ward	LRC
	Amphiteather	n.fem	amphitheater	LRC
	bei	prep	by	ASD
	beide	adj/pron	both	ASD
	bis	prep	until	TLL
	um	prep	at, about, around	TLL
	Umlaut	n.masc	umlaut	W7
	vorbei	adv	past, beyond	TLL
N-Germanic
Old Norse:	bāðar/bæði	adj/pron	both	ASD
	bāðir	adj/pron	both	GED
Icelandic:	bāðar	adj/pron.fem	both	CDC
	bāðir	adj/pron.masc	both	CDC
	bæði/bāði	adj/pron.neut	both	CDC
	um(b)	prep	by, about	ASD
Danish:	baade	adj/pron	both	ASD
	forbi	prep	past, beyond	TLL
	om	prep/conj	in, at, about; whether	TLL
Swedish:	båda	adj/pron	both	CDC
	både	adj/pron	both	ASD
	förbi	prep	past, beyond	TLL
	om	prep/conj	in, at, about; if, whether	TLL
E-Germanic
Gothic:	bai	adj/pron.du	both	GED/RPN
	bajōþs	n.pl	both	CDC
	bi	prep	by, concerning	LRC
Italic
Latin:	amb(i)-	pfx	around, on both sides	GED
	ambigo, ambigere	vb	to go round/about	AHD/CLD
	ambiguus	adj	ambiguous	AHD
	ambō	pron.du	both	GED/RPN
	ambulo, ambulāre, ambulatus	vb	to walk	W7
	amicio, amicīre, amicuī, amictus	vb	to wrap around	W7
	amictus, amictūs	n.masc	cloak, outer garment	W7
	amictus	adj/vb.ptc	clad, thrown around	W7
	amphisbaena	n.fem	amphisbaena	W7
	amphitheātrum	n	amphitheater	AHD
	amphora	n	amphora	AHD
	-bus	dat/abl.pl	[case ending]	RPN
	funambulus	n.masc	one who walks on a rope	W7
	perambulo, perambulare, perambulatus	vb	to walk through	W7
Late Latin:	praeambulus	adj	walking in front of	W7
Medieval Latin:	preambulum	n.neut	preamble	W7
New Latin:	Amphibia	prop.n	(class name for) amphibians	AHD
Old French:	alee	n.fem	path, alley	W7
	aler	vb	to go	W7
	ambes	pron	both	W7
	ambler	vb	to amble	AHD
	ambsace	n.fem	the lowest throw at dice, something worthless or unlucky	W7
	amit, amis	n	cloak, amice	AHD
Middle French:	allée	n.fem	path, alley	W7
	amit	n.masc	cloak, amice	W7
	préambule	n.masc	preamble, foreword	W7
French:	ambulance	n.fem	ambulance	W7
	ambulant	adj	walking, able to walk	W7
Italian:	andante	vb.ptc	going, current, moderately slow	W7
	andare	vb	to go	W7
Baltic
Old Prussian:	abbai	pron	both	GED
Lithuanian:	abù	pron	both	GED
Latvian:	abi	pron	both	GED
Slavic
Old Church Slavonic:	oba, obě, obě	adj	both	LRC
	oba	pron	both	GED
Albanian
Albanian:	mbi	prep	on, onto	IEW
Hellenic
Homeric Greek:	ἀμφότερος	pron	both, each of two	LRC
	ἄμφω	pron.du	both	GED
Greek:	ἀμφί/ἀμφ-	adv/prep/pfx	around, on both sides	GED
	amphibios	adj	amphibious, living double life	AHD
	amphitheatron	n	amphitheater	AHD
	ἄμφω	pron.du	both	RPN
	-φ(ι)	loc.sfx	around, on both sides	RPN
Indic
Sanskrit:	abhí/abhi-	adv/prep	to, towards, about	GED/RPN
	ubhau	pron.du	both	GED/RPN
	-bhis	inst.pl	[case ending]	RPN
	-bhyas	dat/abl.pl	[case ending]	RPN
	-bhyām	inst/dat/abl.du	[case ending]	RPN
Tocharian
Tocharian B:	ant-api	pron	both	GED
Tocharian A:	āmpi	pron	both	GED

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
abl	=	ablative (case)
adj	=	adjective
adv	=	adverb(ial)
conj	=	conjunction
dat	=	dative (case)
du	=	dual (number)
fem	=	feminine (gender)
inst	=	instrumental (case)
intrans	=	intransitive
loc	=	locative (case)
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
neut	=	neuter (gender)
pfx	=	prefix
pl	=	plural (number)
prep	=	preposition
pron	=	pronoun
prop	=	proper
ptc	=	participle
sfx	=	suffix
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)
CLD	=	Cassell's Latin Dictionary (1959, rev. 1968)
GED	=	Winfred P. Lehmann: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986)
IEW	=	Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959)
LRC	=	Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
MEV	=	J.R.R. Tolkien: A Middle English Vocabulary (1922)
RPN	=	Allan R. Bomhard: Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic (2002)
TLL	=	Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944)
W7	=	Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

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