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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: mreg̑hu-, mr̥g̑hu- 'brief, short'

Semantic Field: Short

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
English
Old English:	merge/mirige/myrge	adj	merry	W7
	mir(i)gþ/myr(ig)þ/mirhþ	n.fem	mirth	W7/ASD
Middle English:	abbreviaten	vb	to abbreviate	W7
	abreg(g)en	vb	to abridge	W7
	brace	n	brace	W7
	bracen	vb	to brace	W7
	bref	n	brief	W7
	breff/breve	adj	brief, meager	MEV/W7
	embracen	vb	to embrace	W7
	mery	adj	merry	W7
	mirth	n	mirth	W7
English:	abbreviate	vb.trans	to shorten, make brief	AHD/W7
	abridge	vb.trans	to deprive	AHD/W7
	amphibrach	n	metrical foot: short/unstressed + long/stressed + short/unstressed syllables	AHD/W7
	brace	n	two of same kind	AHD/W7
	brace	vb.arch	to bind, fasten tightly	W7
	Bracegirdle	prop.n	hobbit surname in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	bracero	n	Mexican laborer	AHD
	brachium	n	upper part of arm/forelimb (shoulder to elbow)	AHD/W7
	brachy-	pfx	short	AHD/W7
	brassard	n	armor to protect arm	AHD/W7
	brassiere	n	woman's close-fitting undergarment with cups for bust support	AHD/W7
	brief	adj	short (in extent/duration)	AHD/W7
	brief	n	official letter/mandate	AHD/W7
	brumal	adj	re: winter	AHD
	embrace	vb	to hug, clasp in arms	AHD/W7
	Merry	prop.n	hobbit nickname in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	merry	adj	delightful, giving pleasure	AHD/W7
	mirth	n	gladness/gaiety shown by/accompanied with laughter	AHD/W7
	pretzel	n	brittle glazed/salted cracker	AHD/W7
	tribrach	n	metrical foot: three short syllables	AHD/W7
W-Germanic
Old High German:	murg	adj	short	W7
German:	Brezel	n.fem	pretzel	W7
Italic
Latin:	amphibrachys	adj	short at both ends	W7
	bracchia	n.neut.pl	arms	W7
	bracchiatus	adj	having branches like arms	W7
	bracchium	n.neut	arm	W7
	brevis, brevis, breve	adj	brief	W7
	brūma	n	winter: season of shortest day	AHD
	brūmālis	adj	brumal	AHD
	tribrachys	adj	re: three arms	W7
Late Latin:	abbrevio/abrevio, abbreviare, abbreviavi, abbreviatus	vb	to abbreviate	W7
Portuguese:	breve	adj	brief	TLL
Spanish:	bracero	n	laborer, bracero	AHD
	brazo	n	arm	AHD
	breve	adj	brief	TLL
Old French:	abri(d)gier	vb	to abridge	CDC
	brace	n.fem	two arms	W7
	braciere	n.fem	arm protector	W7
	bras	n.masc	arm	W7
	bref	adj	brief, meager	MEV
	embracier	vb	to embrace	W7
Middle French:	abregier	vb	to abbreviate	W7
	brace	n.fem	two arms	W7
	brassal	n.masc	brassard	W7
	br(i)ef	adj	brief, short	W7
	embracer	vb	to embrace	W7
French:	brassard	n.masc	brassard	W7
	brassière	n.fem	brassiere	W7
	bref	adj	brief	TLL
Provençal:	abrevjar	vb	to abridge	CDC
Old Italian:	bracciale	n.masc	brassard	W7
	braccio	n.masc	arm	W7
Italian:	breve	adj	brief	TLL
Hellenic
Greek:	amphibrachys	adj	short at both ends	W7
	brachiōn	n.masc	arm	W7
	brachys, brachyos	adj	short	W7
	tribrachys	adj	having three short syllables	W7

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
adj	=	adjective
arch	=	archaic
fem	=	feminine (gender)
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
neut	=	neuter (gender)
pfx	=	prefix
pl	=	plural (number)
prop	=	proper
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)
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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