*lump-ó- (or *lump-éh₂-)

Pending an attestation of the accusative singular form of Lydian lumpaa-, either a thematic o-stem or an abstract in *-eh₂- can be reconstructed. The comparison with CLuw. lumpašt(i)- (luppašt(i)-) suggested here would add a parallel formation in *-es-to- (or *-es-ti-). The etymological connection of Pisani 1966a:51 with Greek λυπή ‘sadness’ is attractive, although an Anatolian borrowing into Greek cannot be excluded either; cf. HEG L-M:76f., HED L:118f. for other etymologies.

[D.S.]

The semantics of the root *leu̯p- have traditionally been reconstructed on the basis of the Balto-Slavic evidence as ‘to peel, strip off’ (cf. LIV²:420 ‘(ab)schälen’; cf. also IEW:690f. ‘abschälen, entrinden, abbrechen, beschädigen’). However, the Balto-Slavic material displays a considerably broader semantic range. Besides ‘peel’ and ‘strip off’, Lithuanian laupýti, Latvian làupît, Proto-Slavic *lūpìti and their reflexes also mean ‘tear apart’, ‘damage’, ‘beat’, ‘rob’, ‘loot’, and ‘plunder’. Comparable meanings are found in Vedic LOP- ‘break, damage, destroy, annihilate’ (with an old *l-, not *r-, as per Kristoffersen 2026a:17–19) and in Greek λῡπέω ‘grieve, vex; harass, annoy’, λῡ́πη ‘pain, grief’, and λυπρός ‘distressful, wretched’. The Anatolian evidence likewise points towards a semantic sphere of suffering and affliction, if Luwian lumpašti- ‘reason for annoyance, chagrin’ and Lydian lumpa- ‘mourning (?)’ belong here.

It is therefore likely, as argued by Kristoffersen 2026a:17–21, that the meaning ‘to peel, strip off’ arose only secondarily within Balto-Slavic, perhaps under the influence of the semantically similar root *leu̯b^h- ‘bark, rind’ (cf. Latin liber ‘inner bark’, Gothic laufs ‘foliage’, Lithuanian lúobas ‘thick bark skinned from a decidious tree (lime, oak) or bast’). The oldest reconstructable meaning of *leu̯p- is more likely to have been ‘to damage, destroy, tear apart’, with secondary developments such as ‘plunder, rob’, ‘cause pain, grief’, and, in Balto-Slavic, ‘strip off, peel’.

The root can be reconstructed as *leu̯p-. This reconstruction is directly supported by the Balto-Slavic evidence. Lithuanian laupýti, Latvian làupît, and Proto-Slavic *lūpìti are most naturally derived from an iterative-causative formation *lou̯p-éie̯/o- (thus also LIV²:420). The Anatolian forms are likewise compatible with a root *leu̯p-The intrusive nasal may have originated in a nasal-infix present (cf. Ved. lumpáti ‘breaks, damages, plunders’?).

The Indo-Iranian evidence has often been regarded as problematic. Vedic LOP- ‘break, damage, destroy, annihilate’ is commonly separated from the Greek and Balto-Slavic material and instead connected with Latin rumpō ‘break, burst open’ and related forms as a reflex of *reu̯p- (cf. EWAia II:469, 482; LIV²:420, 510f.). This analysis presupposes that Proto-Indo-Iranian merged PIE *l and *r as *r, with Vedic l representing a secondary dialectal replacement of this *r. Following Niels Schoubben’s demonstration that PIE *l and *r remained distinct in Proto-Indo-Iranian, however, Kristoffersen 2026a:18f. revives the traditional comparison with Greek and Balto-Slavic. Since inherited *l appears to have been particularly well preserved in a labial environment, Vedic LOP- may continue an inherited *leu̯p-, whereas Vedic ROP- ‘suffer bodily pain’ belongs with *reu̯p- and Latin rumpō. If this analysis is correct, the Vedic material provides additional support for the reconstruction of *leu̯p-.

The Greek evidence can be accounted for through a sound law proposed by Adam Hyllested and Paul S. Cohen and further developed by Kristoffersen 2026a, according to which *-Vu̯-  sequences were monophthongized before a following labial consonant. Under this analysis, Greek λῡπέω may be derived regularly from *lou̯p-éie̯/o-, making it an exact cognate of the Balto-Slavic iterative-causative reflected in Lithuanian laupýti, Latvian làupît, and Proto-Slavic *lūpìti. Semantically, the correspondence is likewise close, as all of these verbs denote various forms of damaging, harming, plundering, or causing distress.

The remaining Greek forms can be explained within the same framework. λῡ́πη may either be a back-formation to λῡπέω or continue an inherited abstract noun *lóu̯p-eh₂- (or *léu̯p-eh₂-), while λυπρός may reflect an inherited ro-adjective *lup-ró-. Since neither formation finds secure support outside Greek, the details remain uncertain.

Taken together, the evidence points to a Proto-Indo-European root *leu̯p- ‘damage, injure, destroy, tear apart’.

[S.H.]

Luwian Gloss wedge word lumpašt(i)- (luppašt(i)-) ‘reason for annoyance, chagrin’, Lydian lumpa- c. ‘mourning (?)’.See HEG L-M:76f., HED L:118f.

Vedic LOP ‘break, damage, destroy, annihilate’ (AV [°lumpét] +), perf. lulopa (Br+); pass.-aor. lopi (Sū); úl-lupta- ‘taken out, taken away’ (AV+), sam-lúpya- ‘having torn up’ (AV 10.1.30); pass. lupyáte (AV+), caus. lopayati, -te (Br+); ava-lupti-f. ‘falling off’ (PB), lopa- m. ‘breaking, hurting, injury, destruction, interruption’ (Sū+).Cf., e.g., EWAia II:482 s.v. LOP; Kristoffersen 2026a:17–19.

(?) Proto-Iranic *RAUP ‘to take away, take up, rob’ (Zoroastrian Middle Persian lwpk /rōbag/, lwp /rōb/ ‘pillage, plundering’, Khotanese rrv- ‘to remove, peel off’, Choresmian rwby- ‘to rob; take away [of horse]’, New Persian rubōdan/rubāy- ‘to rob, seize, carry off; to withdraw from sight’, etc.).Cf., e.g., EDIV:319f. s.v. *raup¹.

Ancient Greek λῡ́πη f. ‘pain of body; pain of mind, grief’ (Att.-Ion.), λῡπηρός ‘painful, distressing; causing sorrow, troublesome, sad’ (Att.-Ion.), λυπρός ‘distressful, wretched, poor; causing pain, painful’ (trag.), λῡπέω, -έομαι ‘grieve, vex; cause pain, grief; harass, annoy’ (Hes., Sapph., Att.-Ion.).Cf., e.g., GEW II:145f. s.v. λῡ́πη; Kristoffersen 2026a:17–21.

Lithuanian laupýti, laupaũ, laupiaũ ‘peel, split, crack, pluck off, tear off with fingers; pluck at grass (about cattle); loot, rob; squander, waste’, Latvian làupît, -u, -ĩju ‘crack, skin; rob, loot, plunder’; lùpti, lupù, lupaũ (var. lupiaũ) 1. ‘peel with the fingers, e.g., potatoes or eggs’, 2. ‘peel, remove the skin, strip the bark off a tree’, 3. ‘sack, beat’, Latvian lupt, lupju, lupu ‘shell, hull’, also intr. ‘peel off, come off, hang down’.Cf., e.g., Smoczyński 2018a:675 s.v. laupýti, 733 s.v. lùpti; ALEW 2.0:1139 s.v. sulaupýti, 695f. s.v. lùpti.

Proto-Slavic *l­ūpìti (Serbo-Croatian lúpiti, lȗpīm ‘shell, hull’, Russian lupítь, lupljú ‘hit, peel, shell, strip off (bark)’, Czech loupit ‘rob, loot’, Polish łupić ‘peel, skin, shell, bark; rob, loot’, wyłupić ‘gouge out; beat up’).Cf., e.g., Smoczyński 2018a:675 s.v. laupýti.