Notation Guide
This page explains the notation conventions used throughout the site. Proto-Indo-European reconstruction employs a set of well-established typographic conventions that may be unfamiliar to general readers.
The Asterisk Convention
An asterisk (*) before a form indicates that it is reconstructed rather than directly attested. No PIE text survives; all PIE forms are inferred through the comparative method.
| Notation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ped- | Reconstructed PIE root meaning “foot” |
| pes (Latin) | Attested form — no asterisk |
| ph₂tēr | Reconstructed PIE word “father” |
On this site, reconstructed PIE forms are displayed in italics with a preceding asterisk. Attested forms from daughter languages are in italics without the asterisk.
Laryngeal Theory
The laryngeal theory, first proposed by Ferdinand de Saussure in 1879 and confirmed by the decipherment of Hittite in the early twentieth century, posits that PIE contained a set of consonants (conventionally called “laryngeals”) that were lost in most daughter languages but left traces in vowel colouring, compensatory lengthening, and other effects. The standard reconstruction posits three laryngeals:
| Symbol | Name | Effect on adjacent *e | Hittite reflex |
|---|---|---|---|
| h₁ | First laryngeal | No colouring: *e remains e | Sometimes preserved as ḫ |
| h₂ | Second laryngeal | Colours *e to a | Sometimes preserved as ḫ |
| h₃ | Third laryngeal | Colours *e to o | Sometimes preserved as ḫ |
On this site, laryngeals are written with a lowercase h followed by a subscript numeral: h₁, h₂, h₃. In URLs and normalised forms, subscripts are replaced by plain digits: h1, h2, h3.
Ablaut
Ablaut (also called apophony) is the systematic vowel alternation inherited from PIE. The basic PIE vowel was *e, and ablaut describes its regular alternation:
| Grade | Vowel | Example |
|---|---|---|
| e-grade (full grade) | *e | sed-“sit” |
| o-grade | *o | sod- |
| zero-grade | ∅ (vowel deleted) | sd- |
| lengthened e-grade | *ē | sēd- |
| lengthened o-grade | *ō | sōd- |
Ablaut is visible in English alternations like sing / sang / sung / song, inherited from Proto-Germanic and ultimately from PIE. Each root page notes which ablaut grades are attested for that root.
PIE Consonant Inventory
The reconstructed PIE consonant system, in its standard form:
| Labial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voiceless | *p | *t | *ć | *k | *kʷ |
| Voiced | *b | *d | *ṟ | *g | *gʷ |
| Voiced aspirate | *bʰ | *dʰ | *ṟʰ | *gʰ | *gʷʰ |
| Fricative | *s | ||||
| Nasal | *m | *n | |||
| Liquid | *l, *r | ||||
| Semivowel | *w | *y | |||
| Laryngeal | *h₁, *h₂, *h₃ | ||||
The distinction between palatals and velars (the “centum-satem isogloss”) is one of the oldest recognized divisions in Indo-European. Some scholars merge them, treating the distinction as an innovation in satem languages rather than a retention.
IPA Transcription
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcriptions appear in square brackets for phonetic values and slashes for phonemic values:
| Convention | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| [...] | Phonetic transcription (actual sounds) | [pʰ] — aspirated p |
| / / | Phonemic transcription (abstract units) | /e/ — the PIE vowel *e |
| <...> | Orthographic form | <father> |
PIE reconstructions on this site use the conventional Indogermanist transcription system (with asterisk, subscript laryngeals, macrons for long vowels) rather than IPA. IPA equivalents are provided where they aid comprehension.
Abbreviations
| Abbreviation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| PIE | Proto-Indo-European |
| PGmc. | Proto-Germanic |
| PIt. | Proto-Italic |
| PCelt. | Proto-Celtic |
| PBSl. | Proto-Balto-Slavic |
| PIIr. | Proto-Indo-Iranian |
| OE | Old English |
| OHG | Old High German |
| ON | Old Norse |
| Gk. | Greek (Ancient) |
| Lat. | Latin |
| Skt. | Sanskrit |
| Av. | Avestan |
| OCS | Old Church Slavonic |
| Lith. | Lithuanian |
| Hitt. | Hittite |
| Toch. | Tocharian |
| LIV | Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben |
| IEW | Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (Pokorny) |
Typographic Conventions
| Convention | Use |
|---|---|
| ped- | Reconstructed PIE forms (italic with asterisk) |
| pes | Attested forms from daughter languages (italic, no asterisk) |
| “foot” | Glosses and translations (in quotation marks) |
*p > f | Sound change formulae (monospace) |
| Widely accepted | Reconstruction confidence badges |