Proto-Indo-European Roots

Proto-Indo-European Roots

*Root/Stem:*	*lín-

*Meanings:*	flax, linen

*Cognates:*
Hellenic	Greek *linon* 'flax'
Italic	Latin *línum* 'flax'
Celtic	Common Celtic lín- > Old Irish lín, Irish líon* 'flax', *léine* 'shirt', Welsh *llin* 'flax', Cornish & Breton *lien*
Balkan	Albanian li 'flax', gen. *liri, Geg. linji*
Germanic	Common Germanic línan > Old High German & Middle High German & Middle Low German & Old Saxon & Old English & Old Norse lín* 'flax', Gothic *lein* 'linen cloth' Dutch *lijn, German Leinen*
Baltic	Lithuanian *linas* 'linen cloth', pl. *linai* 'flax', Latvian *lini* (pl.) 'flax', Old Prussian *linno* 'flax'
Slavic	Common Slavic lïnü 'flax' > Ukrainian & Bulgarian & Czech & Polish & Upper Sorbian len, Serbo-Croatian & Slovene & Lower Sorbian lan, Slovak l'an, Russian l'on* 'flax'

Notes:	A typical mild climate culture, flax was not cultivated by Asian Indo-Europeans, so the word is completely absent in Indo-Iranian, Armenian and Anatolian branches. Probably, the name of this plant was borrowed by Indo-Europeans coming to Europe fropm some aboriginal ethnic group.