Indo-European vocabulary

The following is a table of many of the most fundamental Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) words and roots, with their cognates in all of the major families of descendants.

Kinship

People

Pronouns and particles

Numbers

Body

Animals

Food and farming

Bodily functions and states

Mental functions and states

General conditions and states

Natural features

Directions

Basic adjectives

Light and color

Positive qualities

Construction, fabrication

Self-motion, rest

Object motion

Time

Ideas and rituals

Unclassified

Derivatives

  1. maternal, maternity, matron, matrimony, matrix, matriculate, material, matter, madeira, alma mater, etc.
  2. Dēmḗtēr Demeter;
    mētrópolis "metropolis, lit., mother-city"
  3. paternal, paternity, patron, patronize, pattern, patrimony, patriot, expatriate, patrician, perpetrate, compadre, etc.
  4. "genitor, progenitor"
  5. fraternal, fraternity, fraternize, friar, confrere
  6. sorority
  7. nepotism
  8. avuncular
  9. human, humanity, ad hominem, etc
  10. virile, virtue, triumvir(ate), etc.
  11. regal, regalia, regicide, royal, etc.
  12. corps, corpse, corporal, corporation, incorporate, etc.
  13. cap, cape, chapeau, capital, chapter, capitulate, decapitate, per capita, kaput, etc.
  14. language, lingo etc.
  15. ocular, binoculars, etc.
  16. core, cordial, record, accord, discord, concord, accordion, misericordia, courage, etc.
  17. cruel, crude
  18. tripod, podium, etc.
  19. manual, manufacture, manuscript, manipulate, manifest, maintain, manage, manumission, emancipate, mandate, demand, commend, countermand, mandatory, masturbate etc.
  20. Dan bryn > brine; brim
  21. pecunious, impecunious
  22. auspices, auspicious
  23. grain, granary, granule, granite, pomegranate, etc.
  24. agrarian, agriculture, pilgrim, peregrinate, etc.
  25. promulgate, emulsion, etc.
  26. molar (tooth)
  27. immolate
  28. maul, mallet, malleable
  29. Spanish 'zumo' via Arabic
  30. fervent, fervor, fervid, effervescence
  31. saline, salsa, sauce, salad, sausage (salchicha, saucisse), salami, salary
  32. semen, seminar, seminary, seminal, disseminate, inseminate, season, sative, etc.
  33. member, membrane
  34. "dorm, dormitory, dorter"
  35. progeny, progenitor
  36. nee
  37. nascent
  38. native, nativity, etc.
  39. Spa Navidad "Christmas"
  40. nature, natural, etc.
  41. nation, national, etc.
  42. Natalia, Natalie, Natasha, Noël, etc.
  43. general, generic, generate, generous, congenital, degenerate, gender, genre, etc.
  44. gent, gentle, gentleman, gentile, genteel, etc.
  45. genitive, primogeniture, etc.
  46. ingenuous, ingenu, ingenue
  47. ingenious, engine, engineer, gin (instrument, as in cotton gin), etc.
  48. germ, germinate, germane, etc., but not German
  49. genitals, genitalia
  50. genesis, genes, genetic, etc.
  51. auction, etc.
  52. author, etc.
  53. augment, etc.
  54. augury, inaugurate, etc.
  55. August, etc.
  56. auxiliary, etc.
  57. "audio, audience, obey, obedience, auditorium, etc."
  58. aesthetic
  59. memento
  60. reminisce
  61. memory
  62. monster
  63. mathematics
  64. "memory, remember, etc."
  65. "mora, moratory, moratorium"
  66. "martyr"
  67. dekko
  68. aspect, inspect, respect, prospect, perspective, retrospect, despicable, conspicuous, perspicuous, perspicacious, spectacle, spectacular, etc etc.
  69. species, spice, special, specify, specific
  70. spectre, spectrum
  71. speculate
  72. scope, -scope, -scopy
  73. bishop, episcopal
  74. skeptic, skeptical, skepticism
  75. council, conciliate, etc.
  76. clamor, claim, exclamation, etc.
  77. clear, clarify, etc.
  78. stylus, style (originally same meaning as stylus: a particular form of writing > style)
  79. humble, humility, exhume, etc
  80. "incinerate, cinerary, cinerarium"
  81. "foment, fomentation"
  82. "fever, febrile"
  83. "February"
  84. pollute, pollution
  85. fort, forte, fortitude, fortification, force, effort, etc
  86. chernozem, chernukha, Cherno(byl)
  87.  ?Siam
  88. civic, city, citizen, etc.
  89. cite, incite, excite, Incitātus (Caligula's horse), resuscitate, solicit, etc.
  90. site, situation, etc.
  91. expose, exponent, depose, deponent, oppose, opponent, proponent, posit, position, positive, post, etc.

  92. impeccable, impeach
  93. podium, pew
  94. sequence, second, segue, etc.
  95. vert-, verse, versus, version, invert, convert, inverse, reverse, controversy, anniversary etc.
  96. join, joinder, joint, junction, juncture, conjugal, conjugate, conjunct, adjunct, injunction, rejoin, rejoinder, jostle, joust, adjust, etc.
  97. local, locate, locality, locomotion, allocate, etc.
  98. epistle, pistle, epistolary, etc.
  99. sect (or possibly from Lat. sequi, "follow"), -sect, sectile, section, sector, dissect, insect, intersect, resect, transect, etc.
  100. carnal, carnage, carnation, carnival, carrion, caruncle, carnivorous, charnel, charcuterie, incarnate, etc., Spa carne
  101. scrutiny, scrutinize, inscrutable, etc.
  102. scruple, scrupulous, etc.
  103. cult, culture, cultivate, incult, etc.
  104. colony, colonial, etc.
  105. collar, accolade, decollate, etc
  106. palindrome, palimpsest, palinode
  107. telegraph, television, etc.
  108. evolve, revolve, involve, involucrum, convolve, devolve, voluble etc.;
  109. vale, valley
  110. helix, helical, helicopter
  111. fruit, fructose
  112. eunuch (lit. bed-keeper)
  113. hectic
  114. scheme, schematic
  115. school, scholar, scholastic
  116. rude, rudimentary, erudite

Footnotes

  1. Reflexes of the stem in daughter languages also refer to deified beings and deities within their respective mythologies/religions: Old English Mōdraniht ('Night of the Mothers'); Celtic and Germanic Matres and Matronae (Latin for 'Mothers and Matrons'); Latvian Māte ('Mother'); Gaulish Dea Matrona ('Divine Mother Goddess'); Sanskrit Matrikas ('Divine Mothers').
  2. e.g., black friar
  3. Phralipe, or Pralipe, "brotherhood", name of several Gypsy/Romany organizations, including a music band and a literary magazine.
  4. sw- > xw-
  5. kʿoyr *swesōr; kʿeʿ < *swesros; kʿor-kʿ < *swesŏres.
  6. Varias García (2017) pointed out that a tablet from Mycene uses "tu-ka-te", whereas tablets from Knossos, Pylos and Thebes use "ko-wa" (*korwa, later koré 'maiden, girl').
  7. Although this word is attested in Hittite, it is considered a loanword from Luwian. While scholarship recognizes the likelihood of its being the reflex of the root in Anatolian, its appearance in Hittite and Luwian would indicate a different meaning, however.
  8. The root could also be found in Anatolian languages with later attestation: Isaurian personal name Τουάτρης Touatris; Pisidian name Δωταρι Dotari. However, Simon Zsolt questions the interpretation of Dotari as a reflex, since this word is attested as a compound in male names.
  9. Other interpretations are "son of the yew" or "son of the boar".
  10. The word is attested in Plate III of the Botorrita plaques. Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel interprets "-SUNOS" as the remnant of the root in the Celtic branch.
  11. This is the other possible attestation of the root in the Celtic branch.
  12. As argued by Peyrot and Meng (2021).
  13. cf. divide
  14. bridegome in Middle English, subsequently influenced by groom (archaically "servant, man").
  15. But not virus
  16. See also Thr goni "woman".
  17. See also Phry knaiko, knaikan "woman".
  18. Joseph Vendryes had suggested that compound names with the stem seem to be common around the southeast and the Balkans. However, the stem "is attested ... in Messapic, in Osco-Umbrian, in Venetic, in Gaulish, in Celtiberian, in Brittonic languages, in Welsh, in German and in the Baltic languages", as seen, for instance, in Illyrian Teuta (a Illyrian female ruler); Messapic teuta (community) and Taotor (name of deity); tribal name Teutons.
  19. However, Robert Beekes suggests a non-Indo-European substrate origin for the stem and its reflexes.
  20. Woudhuizen lists possible reflexes: Phrygian totos, teutous; Mycenaean te-u-ta-(ko-ro). Another reflex appears in Thracian personal name Tautomedes, cited by J. P. Mallory, and Ancient Macedonian (Pelasgian?) general Teutamus.
  21. hēm- < *ām- (with h- after hum- "you (pl.)") < *asm- < *n̥sm-.
  22. OE ēow (acc., dat.) and ēow-ic̣ (acc., with the same -c̣ ending visible in 1st. sg. acc. mēc̣ "me", also modern German mich "me"), likewise Old High German iuwih "you (acc./dat. pl.)" (modern euch), appear to have the same origin as izw- in Gothic izwis "you (acc./dat. pl)", with unexplained loss of -z-. izwis appears to come from stem izw- plus originally genitive -is, where izw- comes ultimately from PIE *us-we with the loss of u- also visible in Avestan and Celtic, followed by the addition of a prothetic i-. (Ringe, 2006)
  23. Cf. Latin ne-que, Gothic ni-h, Hittite ni-kku, Lydian ni-k "and not, nor".
  24. All suggested etymologies of një "one" are highly speculative, at best. This etymology is one of two given by E. Hamp in Indo-European Numerals (Jadranka Gvozdanović, ed., 1992), pp. 903-904; the other is simply from PIE *eni- (or *H₂en-), a PIE deictic particle visible in Sanskrit anyá- "the other", OCS onŭ "that one", Lithuanian anàs "that one". Michiel de Vaan, in a review of Demiraj's Sistemi i numerimit, suggests PIE *H₂en-io-no- > pre-Proto-Albanian *ëńán > Proto-Albanian *ńâ > një. M. Huld (Basic Albanian Etymologies, p. 101) attempts to derive një from PIE *sm-iH₂, feminine of *sem "one" and reflected in Ancient Greek mía; this etymology is also tentatively suggested in Don Ringe et al. "IE and Computational Cladistics", p. 75 (Transactions of the Philological Society 100, 2002).
  25. For example, qñnã-tba "twelve" (litt. "ten" plus "two").
  26. See also: Umb peturpursus "quadruped".
  27. Cf. Thr ketri- "four".
  28. See also: Osc pomp- "five".
  29. See also Phry pinke "five".
  30. Built upon osmŭ "eighth" < *H₁ok̂t-mo-.
  31. With nasalization after *septḿ̥ "seven".
  32. There is the possibility that Lycian sñta could mean either "ten" or "(one) hundred".
  33. But not kephalḗ!
  34. Possible Anatolian reflex of the root, as posited by Sasseville (2020).
  35. Only in *aíƕatundi "bramble", literally "horse-tooth".
  36. Expected form is *vōs, not *bōs; evidently this is a borrowing from Oscan or Umbrian.
  37. bóu, báu are archaic genitives; later báo, bó.
  38. Celtic river-goddess
  39. In the latter case, a direct parallel to Skt. go·vinda- "cow-finder"
  40. River in Ireland
  41. Proposed by Yakubovich and Sasseville (2018).
  42. Cf. also Phry ἔξις or ἔζις (ezi) "hedgehog".
  43. In ancient Roman tradition, the Avernus was a lake where birds died as they flew near it.
  44. See also Illyrian tribal name Enchele "eel-people".
  45. The name migrated to Eastern Europe, assumed the form "azhdaja" and the meaning "dragon", "dragoness" or "water snake" in Balkanic and Slavic languages.
  46. See also Ovinnik 'a spirit of the barn'.
  47. Lit. drinking implement
  48. Via French né, née
  49. Cf. Sanskrit janitár-, Greek genetḗr, genétōr, Latin genitor "procreator".
  50. Seen in many personal or tribal names: Biuitoni, Biuonia, Dago-bius, etc
  51. This borrowing is found in almost every Slavic language and is said to be "without doubt the most famous Germanic loanword in Slavic" (Pronk-Tiethoff (2013))
  52. Derived by some from *men- "to think"
  53. standard present tense formed using a suppletive root
  54. all Slavic languages
  55. Under the misguided influence of Greek stûlos "pillar"
  56. Cf. Asteria (litt.) "starry one"; Astraeus "god of dusk" (litt. "starry"); Astraea "star-maiden"; Cretan king Asterion "starry".
  57. acc. stā̆rǝm, gen. stārō, pl. nom. staras-ča, stārō, acc. strǝ̄uš, gen. strǝ̄m, dat. stǝrǝbyō.
  58. Tīw < *déywos was the Germanic god of war, but originally was a sky-god and head of the gods, like Zeus.
  59. *déywos > Lat. deus; gen. *deiwī > Lat. dīvī. From each stem a full declension was formed.
  60. According to linguist Vitaly Shevoroshkin, the noun exists in other Anatolian languages: Lycian ziw-; Lydian civ-; Luwian Tiwa-; Palaic Tija-.
  61. Other dialectal variants are Cretan awélios or ābélios; Doric āélios.
  62. Seen in chamomile (from khamaimēlon "earth-apple") and chameleon (from khamailéōn "earth-lion").
  63. It is unclear how the original PIE forms produced the attested daughter-language forms. After the loss of laryngeals, original *péh₂wr̥, ph₂unés would regularly produce *pāwr̥, punés. It is possible that this form was considered too strange-looking, with the result that the u vowel was borrowed from the second stem into the first, yielding *púwr̥, punés. This compressed to *pūr, punés, and this stem set, or its regularized version *pūr, purés, might form the basis of the Umbrian, Greek and Armenian forms. For Germanic, however, something else must be at work. Ringe (2006) suggests that the following sequence of events produced Gothic fōn: Collective péh₂wōr -> ph₂uṓr (cf. Tocharian B puwar) > puōr > Proto-Germanic fuwōr > fwōr > fōr -> fōn (using -n- from the oblique stem), where -> indicates a change due to analogy, while > indicates a regular sound change. His explanation of funins and fuïr is very tentative and complicated. Pokorny's suggestion for Germanic is rather different. He derives fōn from *fwōn, with no further derivation, but probably different from Ringe's. fuïr comes from *puweri, a locative that could be formed from a nominative *púwr̥ or possibly from a stem *pur-. It suffices to say that the processes involved are not well understood.
  64. Februārius mēnsis - Roman month of expiation
  65. Cf. Thracian river name Struma and river-god Strymon; Illyrian toponyms Stravianae and Strevintia; Lith. (dial.) river name Straujà; Old Prussian place-names Strewe, Stromyke and Strowange. Stravianae (or Stravijanu) is tentatively located by scholars near the modern day city of Našice, in east Croatia.
  66. The literal meaning is "place between the rivers".
  67. Scholarly opinion seems to agree that the word must have referred to a large body of water.
  68. Replaced OE sār, compare Ger sehr
  69. *H₁le(n)gʷʰ- and *h₁rewdʰ- are both roots that form Caland-type adjectives. These roots are notable in that they form zero-stem adjectives with certain characteristic suffixes, especially -ro- and -u-, along with -i- in compounds. Other examples are *h₂erǵ- "white" (cf. Greek argós < *argrós "white", Sanskrit ṛjrá- "brilliant", Tocharian B ārkwi "white", Greek argi-kéraunos "with bright lightning") and *dʰewb- "deep" (cf. Lithuanian dubùs "hollow" < *dʰub-u-, Tocharian B tapre "high" < *dʰub-ro-).
  70. contested
  71. Cf. also Thrac arzas "white".
  72. Etymon rudá appears in idiomatic expressions denoting "anger".
  73. Latin etymons galbus ("yellow") and galbinus ("greenish-yellow") are also suggested to derive from this root.
  74. See also: Phr glouros "gold".
  75. Not cognate
  76. ibetis uciu andecari biiete - 'drink from here and be nice' - Limé (Aisne) inscrpition
  77. See also Umbrian benust (Latin uenerit) and Oscan kúm-bened (Latin conuentio).
  78. Now compare 'prose' and 'verse'
  79. wagon is a loan-word from Dutch.
  80. Some of these words might instead derive from *sekʷ- "to follow"
  81. Not related to Spanish alquilar
  82. Probably
  83. See also Hesperus "evening star"; Hesperides "daughters of the evening; nymphs of the west".
  84. Attested in the Coligny calendar, written in Gaulish language.
  85. Douglas Q. Adams reads the words as "winter, wintry", although there are other interpretations.
  86. Influenced by zǝrǝd "heart".
  87. Range of meanings across the different Slavic languages
  88. as in 'to boot', 'bootless'
  89. exact cognate of Héktōr

Tabular notes

  1. Complex ablauting stem:
    Singular Plural
    Language Nom Acc Gen Dat Nom Acc Gen
    PIE gʷṓws gʷṓm gʷéws gʷéwey gʷówes gʷówm̥s gʷéwoHom
    Sanskrit gáus gā́m gṓs gávē gā́vas gā́s gávām
    Avestan gāuš gąm gāuš gave gā̆vō gā̊ gavąm
  2. Complex ablauting stem:
    Language Nom Acc Voc Gen Dat Loc Instr Pl
    PIE d(i)yḗws dyḗm dyéw diw-és, -ós diwéy dyéwi and dyéw ?
    Greek Zdeús Zdẽn Zdeũ Di(w)ós Di(w)í
    Sanskrit d(i)yāús dyā́m ? divás, dyōs divḗ dyáví, diví dyú-bhis
  3. Complex ablauting stem:
    Language Nom Acc Voc Gen Dat Loc Instr Pl
    PIE d(i)yēus dyēum dyĕu diw-és, -ós diwéi dyéwi and dyēu ?
    Greek Zdeús Zdẽn Zdeũ Di(w)ós Di(w)í
    Sanskrit d(i)yāús dyā́m ? divás, dyōs divḗ dyáví, diví dyú-bhis

Bibliography

  • Pokorny, Julius (1959). Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch.
  • Dnghu. Proto-Indo-European Etymological Dictionary. (A revised edition of Julius Pokorny's Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, CCA-GNU)
  • Beekes, Robert (1995). Comparative Indo-European Linguistics. J. Benjamins Pub. ISBN 1-55619-504-4.
  • Beekes, Robert S. P. (2009). Etymological Dictionary of Greek. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-17418-4.
  • Mallory, James; Adams, DQ (24 August 2006). The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World (2006 ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-928791-0.
  • Kölligan, Daniel (2018). "The lexicon of Proto-Indo-European". Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics. pp. 2229–2279. doi:10.1515/9783110542431-045. ISBN 978-3-11-054243-1. S2CID 134708437.
  • Delamarre, Xavier. Le Vocabulaire Indo-Européen. Paris: Librairie d'Amérique et d'Orient. 1984. ISBN 2-7200-1028-6
  • Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental. Errance. ISBN 9782877723695.
  • Kloekhorst, Alwin. Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon. Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 5. Leiden, The Netherlands; Boston, 2008. https://hdl.handle.net/1887/11996
  • Matasović, Ranko. Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. 2009. ISBN 978-90-04-17336-1
  • Monier-Williams, Monier (1960). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford Clarendon.

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