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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 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: magh- : māgh- 'to help, be able; might, power'

Semantic Fields: to Help, Aid; Strong, Mighty, Powerful

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
English
Old English:	ealmihtig	adj	almighty	AHD
	mægen	n.neut	main	LRC
	magan, mæg, magon, meahte	vb.ptpr.V	may, be able to	LRC
	mi(e)ht/me(a)ht/maht/mæht	n.fem	might	W7/ASD
	mihtig	adj	mighty	MEV
Middle English:	almy(gh)ty	adj	almighty	MEV
	dismayen	vb	to dismay	W7
	magik	n	magic	W7
	magus	n	magus	W7
	main	adj/n	main	W7
	might	n	might	W7
English:	almighty	adj	having absolute might/power	W7
	dismay	vb.trans	to take away.courage/resolution of with alarm	AHD/W7
	machine	n	constructed thing (material/immaterial)	AHD/W7
	magic	n	use of means (charms, spells) believed to have supernatural power over natural forces	AHD/W7
	magus	n	member of hereditary priestly class among ancient Medes/Persians	AHD/W7
	main	adj	outstanding, conspicuous	AHD/W7
	main	n	force, physical strength	AHD/W7
	mainmast	n	sailing ship's principal mast	W7
	may	vb.mod	to be able	AHD/W7
	mechanic	adj	re: machine (esp. in routine/automatic performance)	AHD/W7
	mechanism	n	machine, mechanical appliance	AHD
	mechan(o)-	pfx	machine	AHD
	might	n	entity's power/resources/authority	AHD/W7
	mighty	adj	strong, powerful, re: might	LRC
W-Germanic
Old Frisian:	macht/meht	n	might	ASD
	mugan	vb.mod	may	ASD
Dutch:	mag	vb.mod.1/3.sg	(I/he) may	TLL
	magt	n	might	ASD
Old Saxon:	maht	n	might	ASD
	megin	n	main, might	ASD
	mugan	vb.mod	may	ASD
Old High German:	magan/megin	n	main	W7/ASD
	magan/mugan	vb.mod	may	W7/ASD
	maht	n	might	W7
Middle High German:	maht	n	might	ASD
	mugen/mügen	vb.mod	may	ASD
German:	Macht	n.fem	might	ASD
	mächtig	adj	mighty	TLL
	mag	vb.mod.1/3.sg	(I/he) may, like(s) to	TLL
	mögen	vb.mod	may	ASD
N-Germanic
Old Norse:	mega	vb.mod	may	LRC
	megin	n.neut	main, (supernatural) strength	LRC
Icelandic:	magn/megin	n	main, might	ASD
	máttr	n	might	ASD
Danish:	maa	vb.mod.1/3.sg	(I/he) may	TLL
Swedish:	må	vb.mod.1/3.sg	(I/he) may	TLL
E-Germanic
Gothic:	magan	vb.ptpr	may	LRC
	mahts	n.str.fem	might	LRC
Italic
Latin:	machina	n.fem	machine, device (in theater)	W7
	magice	n.fem	magic	W7
	magus	n.masc	magus, sorcerer	W7
	mechanicus	adj	mechanic	W7
Old French:	desmaiier	vb	to dismay	W7
Middle French:	machine	n.fem	machine, device	W7
	magique	adj	magical	W7
	méchanique	adj/n.fem	mechanical; machine	W7
Slavic
Old Church Slavonic:	mošti, mogǫ, mogeši	vb.mod	may	LRC
Hellenic
Doric:	machana	n.fem	machine, device (in theater)	W7
	mēchos	n.neut	means, expedient	W7
Greek:	magikos	adj	re: magic	W7
	μάγος	n.masc	magus, sorcerer, wise man	LRC
	μηχανή	n.fem	machine, device, instrument	LRC
	mēchanikos	adj	mechanic	W7
	mēchos	n.neut	means, expedient	W7
Iranian
Old Persian:	mogush	n	magus, sorcerer	W7

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
1	=	1st person
3	=	3rd person
V	=	class 5
adj	=	adjective
fem	=	feminine (gender)
masc	=	masculine (gender)
mod	=	modal
n	=	noun
neut	=	neuter (gender)
pfx	=	prefix
ptpr	=	preterite-present (verb)
sg	=	singular (number)
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)
LRC	=	Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
MEV	=	J.R.R. Tolkien: A Middle English Vocabulary (1922)
TLL	=	Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944)
W7	=	Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

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