May 6, 2017

Late Proto-Indo-European Etymological Lexicon

Current Version: 8.0 (21 Feb 2021)

Creative Commons License

Late Proto-Indo-European Etymological Lexicon
by Fernando López-Menchero
is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at academiaprisca.org

The Late Proto-Indo-European Etymological Lexicon is the result of 20 years of constant work by Fernando López-Menchero. It covers core vocabulary of the reconstructed Late Proto-Indo-European language, unlike most dictionaries and lexica available, which are centred on the reconstruction of Middle Proto-Indo-European (or Indo-Hittite) roots. This work sets the standard of excellence for Late Proto-Indo-European lexicography, with more than 4000 words and thousands of potential derivatives, hundreds of explanatory notes – including Indo-Hittite roots, word origins, and conjugation or declension categories and help. With a clear emphasis on North-West Indo-European vocabulary, it provides the most comprehensive and accurate coverage for a Modern Indo-European language revival. Thousands of cognates from ancient languages complement this work for its use in Indo-European studies.

The detailed English/Latin – Proto-Indo-European lexicon has been compiled for years in an Excel file:

Version 7 (2019) formats

Version 6 (2017) formats

Version 6 is provided in its original format, or divided in two PDF files:

Also available for quick reference are the Indo-European Dictionary-Translator tool for Proto-Indo-European – English, English – Proto-Indo-European machine translation and dictionary reference tool. A Latin version (for a higher precision of the original meaning) is also available, and an automatic translation of the English meanings has been published in the German version .

Indo-European word formation paradigm, demonstratives, pronouns

Up-to-date versions of these files are included in the latest edition of the Modern Indo-European Grammar

Please note: the first versions of these files, outdated, were released in 2009 and are displayed in Google Sites

Tentative Modern Indo-European word formation

Before the collaboration of Fernando López-Menchero, there was a section in the grammar dedicated to etymological notes and tentative proposals of a Modern Indo-European lexicon based on modern European words. Most of these examples are outdated, since the aim of the project today is to look for an actual Late Proto-Indo-European reconstruction (with emphasis on North-West Indo-European). Nevertheless, the notes are a good example of the potential of back-translation of common modern Indo-European words:

Etymological Notes in PDF (or read HTML) of A Grammar of Modern Indo-European, First Edition.

Latest Revisions of the Indo-European lexicon

You can share comments and corrections of any kind in form (spelling, expressions, sources) or content directly with the author at [email protected], or you can share them publicly in the appropriate forum thread for discussion. Changes will be made as soon as possible after notification:

Versions’ Changes

  • Feb 2021:: (v. 8) New words. Additions and corrections to the old data.
  • Dec 2019:: (v. 7) New words. Additions and corrections to the old data.
  • May 2017:: (v. 6) New words. Additions and corrections to the old data.
  • 1 Oct 2012:: (v. 5) New words. Additions and corrections to the old data.
  • 3 May 2011:: (v. 4) New words. Additions and corrections to the old data.
  • 01 Oct 2009 :: (v. 3) New words. Additions and corrections to the old data.
  • 09 Jan 2009 :: (v. 2) Full revision of the vocabulary.