Proto-Indo-European particles

This article contains characters used to write reconstructed Proto-Indo-European words (for an explanation of the notation, see Proto-Indo-European phonology). Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode combining characters and Latin characters.

The particles of the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) have been reconstructed by modern linguists based on similarities found across all Indo-European languages.

Adverbs

Adverbs used as adpositions

Many particles could be used both as adverbs and postpositions. This is similar to modern languages; compare English He is above in the attic (adverb) and The bird is above the house (preposition). The postpositions became prepositions in the daughter languages except Anatolian, Indo-Iranian and Sabellic; some of the other branches such as Latin and Greek preserve postpositions vestigially.^[1]

Reflexes, or descendants of the PIE reconstructed forms in its daughter languages, include the following.

Particle	Meaning	Reflexes
*h₂epo / h₂po / apo	from	Ved. ápa "away, forth", Gk. apó, Lat. ab "from", Alb. pa "without", Eng. of, off,^[2] Hitt. āppa, āppan "behind"
*h₂ed	to, by, at	Lat. ad, Osc. adpúd, Umb. ař, Goth. at, ON at, Eng. æt/at, Gm. az/--, Ir. ad/, Welsh add-, at, Gaul. ad, Phryg. addaket, XMK addai^[3]
*h₂eti	from, back, again	Lat. at, OCS отъ, Ir. aith-, Welsh ad- "re-", Toch. A atas, Toch. B ate "away", Gk. atar "however"
h₂en / h₂enh₃ / *h₂neh₃	on, upon	Av. ana, Gk. ano, Lat. in (in some cases), ON á, Goth. ana, Eng. an/on, Gm. ?/an, Lith. ant^{[citation needed]}
*h₂enti	against, at the end, in front of, before	Gk. anti, Lat. ante, Hitt. hantezzi "first"
*h₂eu	off, away, too much, very	Ved. ava, Lat. aut, autem, Lith. nuo
h₂n̥-bʰi / h₂m̥-bʰi	around^[4] (→ both)	Ved. abhi, Av. aiwito, aibi, Pers. abiy/?, Gk. amphi, ON um, Eng. bi/by; ymbi/umbe (obsolete), Gm. umbi/um; ?/bei, Lat. ambi, ambo, Gaul. ambi, Ir. imb/um, Welsh am, Toch. āmpi/?, Alb. mbi, Lith. abu, OCS oba, Russ. ob "about", oba "both"^[3]
*bʰeǵʰ	without	OCS без, OPruss. bhe, Ved. bahis "from outwards"^[3]
de, do	to	Gk. -de, Eng. to, Gm. zu, Lith. da-, OCS do, PER tâ, Welsh i, Ir. do, Luw. anda,
*h₁eǵʰs	out	Lat. ex, Gk. ἐκ (ek)/ἐξ (eks), Gaul. ex-, Ir. ass/as; acht/; echtar, Russ. из (iz), Alb. jashtë, Oscan eh-, Umbrian ehe-, Lith. iš, Ltv. iz, OPruss. is, Welsh ech-^[3]
*h₁eǵʰs-tos	outside	Gk. ektos^[3]
h₁eǵʰs-tro- / h₁eǵʰs-ter	extra	Lat. extra,^[3] Welsh eithr "except, besides"
*h₁en	in	Gk. en, Lat. in, Eng. in/in, Gm. in/in, īn/ein-, Ir. i, Welsh yn, Arm. i, Alb. në, OPruss. en, OCS vŭ(n)-,^[2] Luw. anda, Carian nt_a, Goth. in, ON í, Ir. in/i, Lith. į, Ltv. iekšā^{[citation needed]}
*h₁en-ter	within, inside	Ved. antár "between", Lat. inter "between, among", Gm. untar/unter "between, among" (see also n̥dʰ-er below), Ir.* eter/idir "between", Cornish ynter, Alb. ndër "between, in",^[2] Pers. ændær "inside", SCr. unutar "within"
*h₁eti	beyond, over (about quantity), besides	Lat. et, etiam, Gk. ἔτι, οὐκέτι, Ved. अति (ati), Av. aiti, OPruss. et-, at- , Eng. ed-, edgrow, Gaul. eti, t-ic
*h₁opi / h₁epi	near, at, upon, by	Ved. ápi "by, on", Gk. epí "on", Lat. ob "on", Arm. ew "and",^[2] Av. aipi, Lith. api-, apie, Alb. afër "near" ^[3]
*h₁neu	without	Khot. anau "without" Osset. aenae Gk. aneu
*h1poi	away, thither	Hitt. pe-^[5]
km̥-th₂ / km̥-ti	by, along	Hitt. katta "with, down (+Gen)", Gaul. kanta "with", Gk. katá "down"^[2]^[3] Welsh gan
*kom	with	Lat. cum, Ir. co/?,^[2] Welsh cyf-, Goth. ga-
*medʰi	in the middle	Pers., miyan Av. madiiana, Khot. mayana-, Ved. madhyama Lat. medius OPruss. median Goth. miduma "the middle" OCS meždu,^[3] Welsh y mewn
*n̥dʰ-eri	under	Ved. adhás, Av. aδairi, Lat. īnfr-ā, Eng. under/under, Arm. ənd,^[2] Pers. ?/zēr, ON und, Goth. undar, Gm. untar/unter, Arm. ĕndhup/ĕnthub^{[citation needed]}
*ni	down, under	Ved. ní, Eng. ne-ther, Arm. ni, OCS ni-zŭ^[2]
*nu	now	Hitt. nu, Luw. nanun, Ved. nū, OPers. nūra/?, Pers. æknun/konun/?, Gk. nun, Lat. nunc, ON nū, Goth. nu, Eng. nū/now, Gm. nu/nun, Toch. nuṃ/nano, Lith. nūn, Ltv. nu, OPruss. teinu, OCS нъінѣ (nyne), Alb. tani, Arb. naní^{[citation needed]} (but see the list of conjunctions below)
*h₃ebʰi, h₃bʰi	towards, into, at	OCS объ^[3]

*per(i)	around, through	Ved. pári "around, forth", Gk. perí "around", Lat. per "through", OPruss. per, Alb. për,^[2] Russ. pere- "through, over"
per / pero / *prō	before, forth, in front of, ahead of	Hitt. pēran "before", prā "toward", Ved. prā, Lat. per, prō, Eng. for/fore-, Gm. ?/vor, Welsh rhy, rhag, er, Lith. per, pro^{[citation needed]}, Alb. para, Pers. pær-/pæri-/par-, Russ. pered
*pos	after	Ved. pascat, Lat. post, Lith. paskui^[6]
r̥ / rō / *rō-dʰi	for (enclitic), for the purpose of	Ved. r̥^{[citation needed]} OCS ради
*trh₂os	through	Ved. tiras, Lat. trāns, Eng. through, OIr. tar,^[6] Welsh tra
*uper	above	Ved. upári, Gk. hupér, Lat. s-uper, Eng. over, Ir. for/fara, Welsh gor-, gwar- Arm. (i) ver "up",^[2] Alb. sipër, Gm. über
up / upo	under, below	Ved. úpa "up to", Gk. hupó "below", Lat. s-ub, Ir. fo/faoi,^[2] Welsh go-, gwa- Hitt. upzi, Av. upa, Pers. upa/?, Umb. sub, Osc. sup, ON upp, Goth. iup, Eng. upp/up, Gm. uf/auf, Welsh go, Gaul. voretus, Toch. ?/spe, Lith. po^{[citation needed]}

Untranslated reflexes have the same meaning as the PIE word.

In the following languages, two reflexes separated by a slash mean:

English: Old English / Modern English
German: Old High German / New High German
Irish: Old Irish / Modern Irish
Persian: Old Persian / Modern Persian
Tocharian: Tocharian A / Tocharian B

Negating prefixes (privatives)

Two privatives can be reconstructed, *ne and *mē, the latter only used for negative commands. The privative prefix *n̥- is likely the zero grade of *ne.

Particle	Meaning	Reflexes
*ne	sentence negator	Ved. ná, Lat. nē/ne-, Eng. ne/no, Gm. ne/nein, Lith. nè, OCS ne,^[7] Hitt. natta, Luw. ni-, Lyc. ni-, Lyd. ni-, Av. na, Pers. na/?, Gk. ne-, Osc. ne, Umb. an-, ON né, Goth. ni, Ir. ní/ní, Welsh ni, Arm. an-, Toch. an-/en-, Ltv. ne, OPruss. ne, Pol. nie, Russ. ne, net, Alb. nuk^{[citation needed]}
*n̥-	privative prefix	Hitt. am-, Ved. a(n)-, Gk. a(n)-, Lat. in-, Alb. e-, Eng. un-,^[7] Gm. un-
*meh₁	negator for commands	Ved. mā, Per ma-, Gk. mē (Doric mā)^[7] Alb. mo, Alb. mos, Arm. mi

Adverbs derived from adjectives

Adverbs derived from adjectives (like English bold-ly, beautiful-ly) arguably cannot be classified as particles. In Proto-Indo-European, these are simply case forms of adjectives and thus better classified as nouns. An example is *meǵh₂ "greatly", a nominative-accusative singular.^[8]

Conjunctions

The following conjunctions can be reconstructed:^[9]

Particle	Meaning	Reflexes
*kʷe	and, word or phrase connector^†	Hitt. -ku, Ved. ca, Av. ca, Gk. te, Lat. -que, Celtib. kue, Per ke
*wē	or, word or phrase disjunctor^†	Ved. vā, Gk. -(w)ē, Lat. -ve
*de	and, sentence connector	Gk. dé, Alb. dhe, Russ. da "and"
*nu	and, sentence connector	Hitt. nu, Ved. nú, Gk. nú, Toch. ?/nu, Ir. no-/?, OCS nŭ (but see the adverbs above)

^†Placed after the joined word, as in Latin Senatus populus-que Romanus ("Senate and people of Rome"), -que joining senatus and populus.

Interjections

There is only one PIE interjection that can be securely reconstructed; the second is uncertain.

Particle	Meaning	Reflexes
*wai!	expression of woe or agony	Hitt. uwai, Lat. vae, Welsh gwae, Breton gwa, Eng. woe, ON. vei, Pers. vai, Kurd. wai, Ved. uvē, Gk. aī, aī aī (woe!, alas!), Lith. vajé, Ltv. ai, vai, Arm. vai
ō! / eh₃! (?)	oh!	Gk. ō, Lat. ō, Eng. oh!, Gm. oh!, Russ. o!,^[10] Pers. e!,

Notes

^ Fortson (2004:133–4)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Fortson (2004:134)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Blažek : Indo-European Prepositions and Related Words (2005)
^ Fortson (2004:239)
^ Kloekhorst, Alwin (2007). The Hittite Inherited Lexicon Volume II. Leiden: Online: Leiden University. p. 764.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
^ ^a ^b Beekes
^ ^a ^b ^c Fortson (2004:133)
^ Fortson (2004:132–3)
^ Fortson (2004:134–5)
^ Schenk (1998:^{&#91, page needed&#93,})

References

Dunkel, George E (2014), Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme, Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, ISBN 978-3-8253-5926-3
Kloekhorst, Alwin "The Hittite Inherited Lexicon Volume II" (Online: Leiden University, 2007)
Fortson, Benjamin W. IV (2004), Indo-European Language and Culture, Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 1-4051-0316-7

[1] Fortson (2004:133–4)

[Fortson_postpositions-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Fortson (2004:134)

[blazek-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Blažek : Indo-European Prepositions and Related Words (2005)

[4] Fortson (2004:239)

[5] Kloekhorst, Alwin (2007). The Hittite Inherited Lexicon Volume II. Leiden: Online: Leiden University. p. 764.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)

[Beekes-6] Beekes

[Fortson_negators-7] Fortson (2004:133)

[8] Fortson (2004:132–3)

[Fortson_other_particles-9] Fortson (2004:134–5)

[10] Schenk (1998:^{&#91, page needed&#93,})

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