# A Proto-Indo-European dictionary with info on etymological derivations **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 19, 2007, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-proto-indo-european-dictionary-with-info-on-etymological-derivations/392770 "2007-02-19T02:54:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-proto-indo-european-dictionary-with-info-on-etymological-derivations/392770/1 "2007-02-19T02:54:02Z")
I can find online PIE dictionaries with info on etymological derivations from PIE roots insofar as the derivations are directly relevant to the histories of words in English. But I’m looking for a reference work that gives this kind of information, but for several or even all languages (or at least representatives from different language groups) within the Indo-European family. For example, I’d like for it to tell me, in the entry for “deughtr” (or whatever it was exactly,) not only that the english word “daughter” comes from that root (and how it got here) but also that the Greek word “thugater” comes from it (and how) and the sanskrit word … and the tocharian word … and so on. I’m sure there is such a book or set of books. Anyone know titles? Or even better, is there something like this online? -Kris ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-proto-indo-european-dictionary-with-info-on-etymological-derivations/392770/2 "2007-02-19T03:20:08Z")
As a start, try the American Heritage Dictionary – the edition with the PIE roots as an appendix. It doesn’t have all the possibilities (and I suspect that there are just too many gaps to list them all), but it should be a start. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-proto-indo-european-dictionary-with-info-on-etymological-derivations/392770/3 "2007-02-19T03:43:48Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] As a start, try the American Heritage Dictionary – the edition with the PIE roots as an appendix. It doesn’t have all the possibilities (and I suspect that there are just too many gaps to list them all), but it should be a start. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I’d already seen that. From what I saw, it appeared it only gave information directly relevant to English derivations. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-proto-indo-european-dictionary-with-info-on-etymological-derivations/392770/4 "2007-02-19T18:56:14Z")
The standard reference is Julius Pokorny’s _Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch_ (_Indo-European Etymological Dictionary_), published in 1959. It’s the sort of thing that’s found mostly in college libraries. Do you live close enough to a big university to be able to spend some time in their library? ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-proto-indo-european-dictionary-with-info-on-etymological-derivations/392770/5 "2007-02-19T22:28:08Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner] The standard reference is Julius Pokorny’s _Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch_ (_Indo-European Etymological Dictionary_), published in 1959. It’s the sort of thing that’s found mostly in college libraries. Do you live close enough to a big university to be able to spend some time in their library? [/QUOTE] I live _in_ a big university. 🙂 Thanks for the ref. I hope there’s a verion in English, but I can probably muddle through the German version since its just a giant database of sorts… -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-proto-indo-european-dictionary-with-info-on-etymological-derivations/392770/6 "2007-02-20T01:42:14Z")
A team at a Leiden is working on an IE dictionary similiar to Pokorny’s, but updated to reflect current linguistic knowledge of PIE. See their home page here: [http://www.indoeuropean.nl/](http://www.indoeuropean.nl/) The team has put Pokorny’s dictionary online (not accessible at the time of this posting), but it’s in a format that I have never found convenient to navigate. When I need to look something up in Pokorny, I usually go to the library and use the printed version. It’s fairly easy to use, even if you don’t speak much German. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-proto-indo-european-dictionary-with-info-on-etymological-derivations/392770/7 "2007-02-20T02:39:07Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] I can find online PIE dictionaries with info on etymological derivations from PIE roots insofar as the derivations are directly relevant to the histories of words in English. But I’m looking for a reference work that gives this kind of information, but for several or even all languages (or at least representatives from different language groups) within the Indo-European family. For example, I’d like for it to tell me, in the entry for “deughtr” (or whatever it was exactly,) not only that the english word “daughter” comes from that root (and how it got here) but also that the Greek word “thugater” comes from it (and how) and the sanskrit word … and the tocharian word … and so on. I’m sure there is such a book or set of books. Anyone know titles? Or even better, is there something like this online? -Kris [/QUOTE] Funny you shold mention daughter since I have curious if “putri” in Indonesian (a creole based on Hindi, among others), as in “Sukarnoputri”, the patronymic of the current PM, is related to the English word.