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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.

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Pokorny Etymon: u̯ek-ti- 'whit, thing'

Semantic Field: Form, Shape (n)

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language	Reflex(es)	PoS/Gram.	Gloss	Source(s)
English
Old English:	ā-wiht/ā-(wy)ht/ā-(w)uht	pron	aught, lit. a whit	W7/ASD
	nā-wiht/nā-(w)ht/nā-uht	pron	naught, lit. no whit	W7/ASD
	nō-(wi)ht	pron	nought, lit. no whit	W7/ASD
	wiht	n.neut	whit, wight	LRC
Middle English:	au(g)ht/aght/auzht	pron	aught	W7/CDC
	naught/nought	pron	naught/nought	W7
	not	adv/pron	not; nought	W7
	wi(g)ht/wyght	n	whit, wight	W7
English:	aught	pron	anything, a whit	AHD/W7
	Barrow-wight	prop.n	tomb-wraith in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings	LRC
	naught/nought	pron	nothing, not aught	AHD/W7
	not	adv	negative: without, absence/reverse of	AHD
	whit	n	bit, thing, smallest part(icle)	AHD/W7
	wight	n	wraith, creature, living being	AHD/W7
W-Germanic
Old Frisian:	ā-(w)et	pron	aught, lit. a whit	CDC
	nā-wet	pron	naught, lit. no whit	ASD
Dutch:	iets	pron	aught	CDC
	wicht	n	wight, child	LRC
Old Saxon:	ēo-wiht	pron	aught, lit. a whit	CDC
	neō-wiht	pron	naught, lit. no whit	ASD
	wiht	n.masc	whit, wight, demon	CDC/ASD
Middle Low German:	i(e)ht/iewet/iet	pron	aught, lit. a whit	CDC
Old High German:	eo-wiht/io-wiht/ie-wiht	pron	aught, lit. a whit	CDC
	neō-wiht	pron	naught, lit. no whit	ASD
	wiht/wihd	n.neut	whit, wight; nature	W7/CDC/ASD
German:	Wicht	n.masc	wight, imp, dwarf, goblin	LRC
N-Germanic
Old Norse:	vættr	n.fem	wight, (supernatural) being	LRC
Icelandic:	vætta	n	whit	CDC
	våttr/vættr	n.fem	whit, wight	CDC/ASD
Danish:	vætte	n	wight, elf	CDC
Swedish:	vätt(er)	n	wight, elf	LRC
E-Germanic
Gothic:	waiht	n.neut	whit, wight	CDC
	waíhts	n.str.fem	whit, wight	LRC
Slavic
Old Slavic:	veštĭ	n	thing	W7
Hellenic
Greek:	εὑρίσκω	vb	to find	LRC

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

Abbrev.		Meaning
adv	=	adverb(ial)
fem	=	feminine (gender)
masc	=	masculine (gender)
n	=	noun
neut	=	neuter (gender)
pron	=	pronoun
prop	=	proper
str	=	strong (inflection)
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
W7	=	Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

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