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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: 1. pel-, pelə-, plē- 'to pour, fill; full, plenary; town?'

Semantic Fields: to Pour; Full; Town, City

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
Celtic
Old Irish:	(h)il	adj	many	RPN
	lán	adj	full	RPN
	lín(a)id	vb	to fill	RPN
Irish:	feal	adj	fell, bad, evil, naughty	ASD
Breton:	leun	adj	full	RPN
Cornish:	le(u)n/luen	adj	full	RPN
Welsh:	llawn	adj	full	RPN
English
Old English:	æl-fæle/eal-felo	adj	dire, baleful, lit. all-fell	ASD/RPN
	eal-fela	adj	very much, lit. all-much	LRC
	fæle/fel(o)	adj	fell, baleful, pernicious	ASD
	fe(a)la/fæla/feola	adv/adj.indec	very; much, many	ASD
	fīfealde	n	butterfly	LRC
	folc	n.neut	folk	LRC
	ful(l)	adj	full, filled	RPN/ASD
	fulla	n	fullness	RPN
	fyllan	vb.wk	to fill (up)	RPN/ASD
	psealm	n.masc	psalm	W7/ASD
	Winter-fylleþ	prop.n	October, lit. winter-fills (month)	ASD
Middle English:	accomplisshen	vb	to accomplish	W7
	complement	n	complement	W7
	complet	adj	complete	W7
	fel	adj	fell	W7
	fillen	vb	to fill	W7
	folk	n	folk	W7
	full	adj	full	W7
	implement	n	implement	W7
	palpable	adj	palpable	W7
	pavilon	n	pavilion	W7
	plenitude	n	plenitude	W7
	plente	n	plenty	W7
	plural	n	plural	W7
	policie	n	government, policy: sagacity	W7
	politik	adj	politic	W7
	poly-	pfx	poly-	W7
	psalm	n	psalm	W7
	psalterie	n	psaltery	W7
	replenisshen	vb	to replenish	W7
	replete	adj	replete	W7
	supplien	vb	to supply	W7
	surplus	n	surplus	W7
English:	accomplish	vb.trans	to perform, execute fully	AHD/W7
	acropolis	n	upper fortified part of ancient Greek city	AHD/W7
	complement	n	something that completes/fills up/makes perfect	AHD/W7
	complete	adj	entire, possessing all necessary parts	AHD/W7
	compliment	n	expression of respect/esteem/affection/admiration	AHD/W7
	comply	vb.intrans	to be ceremoniously courteous	AHD/W7
	cosmopolis	n	cosmopolitan city	AHD/W7
	cosmopolite	n	cosmopolitan person/organism	AHD/W7
	deplete	vb.trans	to empty of principal substance	AHD/W7
	expletive	adj	serving to fill up	AHD/W7
	Felaróf	prop.n	Eorl's horse in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	fell	adj	cruel, fierce, savage, deadly	W7
	felon	n	villain, criminal, evildoer	W7
	fill	vb	to add/insert as much/many as is normal/possible	AHD/W7
	Folca	prop.n	13th Rohan king in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	Folcred	prop.n	Rohan prince in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	Folcwine	prop.n	14th Rohan king in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	folk	n	people, kindred tribes forming nation	AHD/W7
	folkmoot	n	general assembly of shire residents	AHD/W7
	full	adj	containing as much/many as is normal/possible	AHD/W7
	Herrenvolk	prop.n	master race	AHD/W7
	implement	n	article serving to equip	AHD/W7
	metropolis	n	mother city/state of colony	AHD/W7
	necropolis	n	cemetery	AHD/W7
	nonplus	n	state of confusion/perplexity/bewilderment	AHD
	nonplus	vb	to bewilder, be/put at loss	AHD
	palp	n	palpus: arthropod mouthpart	AHD/W7
	palpable	adj	tangible, able to be felt/touched	AHD/W7
	palpate	vb.trans	to examine by touch	AHD/W7
	palpation	n	examination by touch	AHD/W7
	palpebra	n	eyelid	AHD
	palpitate	vb.intrans	to throb, beat rapidly/strongly	AHD/W7
	paludal	adj	marshy, re: fens/marshes	AHD/W7
	papilionaceous	adj	resembling butterfly (esp. in shape)	AHD/W7
	papillon	n	slender toy spaniel (dog) resembling chihuahua	AHD/W7
	papillote	n	curlpaper	AHD/W7
	pavilion	n	large sumptuous tent	AHD/W7
	piu	adv	more	AHD/W7
	plebe	n	common person; military academy freshman	AHD/W7
	plebeian	n	Roman commoner	AHD/W7
	plebiscite	n	direct vote where electorate may accept/refuse proposal	AHD
	plebs	n	populace, common people	AHD
	pleiotaxy	n	increase of number of whorls in inflorescence	AHD
	pleiotropism	n	control (by single gene) of multiple phenotypic effects	AHD
	Pleistocene	adj	re: geologic epoch early in Quaternary	LRC
	plenary	adj	full, complete	AHD/W7
	plenipotentiary	n	person invested with power to transact business	AHD/W7
	plenitude	n	fullness, completeness	AHD/W7
	plenty	n	abundance, full supply	AHD/W7
	plenum	n	space full of matter	AHD/W7
	pleonasm	n	using more words than necessary	AHD/W7
	plerocercoid	n	solid elongate infective tapeworm larva	AHD/W7
	plethora	n	bodily condition re: excess blood	AHD/W7
	plethysmograph	n	instrument measuring variation in body part size based on blood volume	AHD
	plural	adj	[grammatical form denoting] more than one/two	AHD/W7
	plus	prep	increased by, with addition of	AHD/W7
	police	n	government unit exercising power re: community morals/safety/prosperity	AHD/W7
	police	n.obs	policy	AHD/W7
	policlinic	n	dispensary/department of hospital treating outpatients	AHD/W7
	policy	n	sagacity, wisdom/prudence in managing affairs	AHD/W7
	policy	n	document wherein insurance contract is made	AHD/W7
	polis	n	city-state in ancient Greece	AHD
	politic	adj	political	AHD/W7
	political	adj	re: government	W7
	polity	n	political organization	AHD/W7
	poly-	pfx	multi-, much/many, several	AHD/W7
	polydactyl	adj	having abnormally many digits	W9
	polymer	n	chemical compound of repeating structural units	W7
	polypnea	n	panting, rapid breathing	AHD
	polypod	adj	having many feet	AHD
	polytene	adj	re: large multistranded chromosomes with chromomeres in contact	AHD
	poori	n	light unleavened bread of India/Pakistan	AHD
	propolis	n	brownish resinous material from tree buds	AHD/W7
	psalm	n	sacred song/poem used in praise/worship of deity	AHD/W7
	psaltery	n	ancient stringed instrument resembling zither	AHD/W7
	replenish	vb	to stock, fill with persons/animals	AHD/W7
	replete	adj	fully/abundantly provided	AHD/W7
	supplement	vb	to complete, add to	W7
	suppletive	adj	supplying, suppletory, supplemental	AHD/CDC
	supply	vb	to add as supplement	AHD/W7
	surplus	n	amount remaining when use/need is satisfied	AHD/W7
	terreplein	n	level space behind parapet (to mount weapons)	AHD/W7
	Winterfilth	prop.n	Shire calendar's October in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
Scots English:	fell	adj	keen, hot, acute	ASD
W-Germanic
Old Frisian:	fal	adj	fell, violent	ASD
	fel/ful	adj.indec	much, many; very	ASD
	fella/folla/fullia	vb	to fill	ASD
	folk	n.neut	folk	ASD
	ful/fol	adj	full	ASD
Frisian:	fol	adj	full	ASD
	folck	n	folk	ASD
	foll/full	adj.indec	much, many; very	ASD
	folljen	vb	to fill	ASD
Dutch:	fel	adj	fell, violent	ASD
	politie	n	police	TLL
	veel	adj.indec	much, many; very	ASD
	vleermuis	n	bat	TLL
	vol	adj	full	ASD
	volk	n.neut	folk	ASD
	vullen	vb	to fill	ASD
Old Saxon:	filo/filu	adj.indec	much, many; very	ASD
	fletharmūs	n	bat	KSW
	fol/ful	adj	full	ASD
	folc/folk	n.neut	folk, group	ASD
	fullian	vb	to fill	ASD
Low German:	full/vull	adj	full	ASD
	vullen	vb	to fill	ASD
Old High German:	fīfaltra	n	butterfly	W7
	filo/filu	adj.indec	much, many; very	ASD
	fledarmūs	n	bat, moth	KNW
	folc(h)/folk	n.neut	folk	W7/ASD
	fol(l)/full	adj	full	W7/ASD
	fulljan	vb	to fill	ASD
Middle High German:	vālant	n	devil	RPN
	vil	adj.indec	much, many; very	ASD
	vol	adj	full	ASD
	volc	n.masc	folk	ASD
	vüllen	vb	to fill	ASD
German:	Falter	n	moth, butterfly	LRC
	Fledermaus	n	bat	TLL
	füllen	vb	to fill	ASD
	Herrenvolk	n	Herrenvolk, lit. lord folk	AHD/W7
	Poliklinik	n.fem	policlinic	W7
	Polizei	n	police	TLL
	viel	adj.indec	much, many; very	ASD
	Volk	n.neut	folk	ASD
	voll	adj	full	ASD
N-Germanic
Old Norse:	fleiri	adj.comp	more, further; other	LRC
	fólk	n.neut	folk, men, troop, host of warriors	LRC
	fullr	adj	full, in full swing	LRC
Old Icelandic:	felms-fullr	adj	alarmed, frightened	RPN
	felmtr	n	sudden fear, fright	RPN
	fīfrildi	n	butterfly	LRC
	fæla	vb	to scare, frighten	RPN
	fæling	adj	frightening	RPN
Icelandic:	fjöl-	pfx	much	ASD
	fōlk	n.neut	folk	ASD
	fullr	adj	full	ASD
	fylla	vb	to fill	ASD
Danish:	folk	n.neut	folk	ASD
	fuld	adj	full	ASD
	fylde	vb	to fill	ASD
	politi	n	police	TLL
Swedish:	fjäril	n	butterfly	SAO
	flädermus	n	bat	TLL
	folk	n.neut	folk	ASD
	full	adj	full	ASD
	fylla	vb	to fill	ASD
	polis	n	police	TLL
E-Germanic
Gothic:	filu	adj	great, very much	RPN
	filu	n.str.neut	much, many	LRC
	fulljan	vb	to fill, fulfill	RPN
	fullō	n	fullness	RPN
	fulls	adj	full	LRC
	us-filma	adj	frightened, astonished	RPN
	us-filmei	n	astonishment	RPN
Italic
Latin:	complementum	n.neut	complement	W7
	compleo, complēre	vb	to complete, fill up	W7
	completus	vb.ptc	completed, filled up	W7
	depleo, deplēre	vb	to fill	W7
	depletus	vb.ptc	filled	W7
	expleo, explēre	vb	to fill out	W7
	expletus	vb.ptc	filled out	W7
	impleo, implēre	vb	to fill up	W7
	palpatus	vb.ptc	palpated, caressed	W7
	palpitatus	vb.ptc	striken	W7
	palpito, palpitāre	vb	to be agitated	W7
	palpo, palpāre	vb	to stroke, caress	W7
	palus, palūdis	n.fem	swamp, marsh	W7
	pāpilio, pāpiliōnis	n.masc	butterfly	W7
	plebeius	adj	re: plebe(s)	W7
	plebs, plebis	n.fem	plebe, masses, common people	LRC
	plenitudo	n.fem	plenitude	W7
	plēnus, plēna, plēnum	adj	plenary	RPN
	pleō, plēre	vb	to fill, fulfill	RPN
	plerusque, pleraeque, pleraque	adj	most, re: majority	LRC
	pluralis	adj	plural, diverse	W7
	plurimum	adv	especially, very much	LRC
	plūs, pluris	adj.comp	more	LRC
	politicus	adj	political	W7
	poly-	pfx	many	W7
	psalterium	n.neut	psaltery	W7
	repleo, replēre	vb	to fill up	W7
	repletus	vb.ptc	filled up	W7
	suppleo, supplēre	vb	to supplement, fill up	W7
Vulgar Latin:	accompleo, accomplēre	vb	to accomplish	W7
Late Latin:	expletivus	adj	filling out	W7
	implementum	n.neut	action of filling up	W7
	metropolis	n.fem	metropolis, mother-city	W7
	necropolis	n.fem	necropolis, dead-city	W7
	palpabilis	adj	palpable	W7
	plēnārius	adj	entire, plenary	W7
	plenipotens, plenipotentis	adj	plenipotentiary	W7
	plenitas, plenitatis	n.fem	fullness	W7
	pleonasmus	n.masc	pleonasm	W7
	politia	n.fem	government, political organization	W7
	psalmus	n.masc	psalm	W7
Medieval Latin:	plenipotentia	n.fem	investment with full power	W7
	plenipotentiarius	adj.n.masc	plenipotentiary	W7
	plethora	n.fem	plethora, multitude	W7
	superplus	n.masc	surplus	W7
	terraplenum	n.neut	median, terreplein	W7
New Latin:	cosmopolis	n.fem	cosmopolitan city	W7
	palpus	n.masc	flattery	W7
	plenum	n.neut	space full of matter	W7
Portuguese:	cheio	adj	full	TLL
Spanish:	cumplimiento	n.masc	compliment	W7
	cumplir	vb	to complete, perform what is due	W7
	lleno	adj	plenary	TLL
Old French:	acomplir	vb	to complete, accomplish	AHD
	fel	adj	fell, wicked	ASD
	paveillon	n.masc	pavilion	W7
	plein	adj	full	W7
	plenté	n.fem	plenty, fullness	W7
	replenir	vb	to replenish	W7
Middle French:	acomplir	vb	to accomplish	W7
	complet	adj	complete	W7
	plénitude	n.fem	plenitude	W7
	plurel	adj	plural, re: many	W7
	police	n.fem	policy: document, certificate	W7
	policie	n.fem	government, regulation, policy: sagacity	W7
	politique	n.fem	politic	W7
	psalterie	n.fem	psaltery	W7
	replenir	vb	to refill, replenish	W7
	replet	adj	replete	W7
	soupleier	vb	to supplement, fill up	W7
	surplus	n.masc	surplus, overflow	W7
	terreplein	n.masc	median, terreplein	W7
French:	accomplir	vb	to complete, accomplish	AHD
	clinique	n.fem	medical office	W7
	compliment	n.masc	compliment	W7
	papillon	n.masc	butterfly	W7
	papillote	n.fem	papillote, candy in colorful twisted paper	W7
	plèbe	n.fem	plebe	W7
	plein	adj	plenary	TLL
Old Italian:	polizza	n.fem	policy: document, certificate	W7
	terrapieno	n.masc	terreplein	W7
Italian:	complimento	n.masc	compliment	W7
	complire	vb	to comply	W7
	fello	adj	fell, wicked	ASD
	pieno	adj	plenary	TLL
	più	adv	piu	W7
Baltic
Lithuanian:	peteliške	n.fem	butterfly	W7
	pilìs	n.fem	castle	LRC
	pìlnas, pilnà	adj	plenary	RPN
Latvian:	pils	n	castle	RPN
Slavic
Old Church Slavonic:	plaxъ	n	dread, fear, fright	RPN
	plašiti	vb	to scare, frighten	RPN
	plъnъ	adj	plenary	RPN
Albanian
Albanian:	plot	adv	quite, fully, completely	IEW
	politik	adj	political	LRC
Hellenic
Homeric Greek:	πλέων	adj.comp	more	LRC
	πλῆθος	n.neut	mass, multitude, quantity	LRC
	πλήθω	vb	to be/become full	RPN
	πτόλις	n	city, citadel	RPN
Greek:	ἀκρόπολις	n.fem	acropolis, citadel on a hill	LRC
	ἐμπίπλημι	vb	to fill	LRC
	kosmopolitēs	adj	cosmopolitan	W7
	mētropolis	n.fem	metropolis, lit. mother-city	W7
	nekropolis	n.fem	necropolis, lit. city of the dead	W7
	πάλλω	vb	to sway, to shake, to swing	RPN
	πελεμίζω	vb	to shake, make tremble	RPN
	πίμπλημι	vb	to fill	LRC
	πλεῖστος	adj.sup	most	LRC
	pleiōn	adj.comp	more	W7
	pleonazein	vb	to be excessive	W7
	pleonasmos	n.masc	pleonasm	W7
	πλέος	adj	full	RPN
	plēthōra	n.fem	fullness	W7
	πλήρης	adj	full (of)	LRC
	πληρόω	vb	to fill	LRC
	πολεμέω	vb	to fight, be at war	LRC
	πολέμιος	adj/n.masc	hostile, inimical; enemy	LRC
	πο̑λεμος	n.masc	war	LRC
	πόλις	n.fem	polis, city, citadel	LRC
	politeia	n.fem	polity, government, constitution	W7
	politeuein	vb	to be a citizen, engage in political activity	W7
	politēs	n.masc	citizen	W7
	πολιτική	n.fem	politics	LRC
	πολιτικῶς	adj/adv	political; like statesmen	LRC
	πολύς	adj	many	LRC
	συμπληρόω	vb	to fill up	LRC
	psallein	vb	to pluck, play stringed instrument	W7
	psalmos	n.masc	hymn, twanging of a harp	W7
	psaltērion	n.neut	psaltery	W7
Armenian
Armenian:	li	adj	full	RPN
Indic
Sanskrit:	palvala	n	pond	W7
	pí-parti	vb	to fill, sate, nourish	RPN
	purú-ḥ	adj	much, many, abundant	RPN
	pū́r	n	city; wall, fortress	RPN
	pūrṇá-ḥ	adj	full, filled	RPN
	pṛṇā́ti	vb	to fill	RPN
	prāṇa-ḥ	adj	full, filled	RPN

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
adj	=	adjective
adv	=	adverb(ial)
comp	=	comparative
fem	=	feminine (gender)
indec	=	indeclinable/anomalous
intrans	=	intransitive
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
neut	=	neuter (gender)
obs	=	obsolete
pfx	=	prefix
prep	=	preposition
prop	=	proper
ptc	=	participle
str	=	strong (inflection)
sup	=	superlative
trans	=	transitive
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)
CDC	=	W.D. Whitney and B.E. Smith: The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (1889-1911)
IEW	=	Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959)
KNW	=	Gerhard Köbler: Altnordisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed. (2003)
KSW	=	Gerhard Köbler: Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed. (2000)
LRC	=	Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
RPN	=	Allan R. Bomhard: Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic (2002)
SAO	=	Swedish Academy: Svenska Akademiens Ordbok (2011)
TLL	=	Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944)
W7	=	Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)
W9	=	Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (1983)

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