*ǵʰelh₃-

Reconstruction

The root is *ǵhelh₃- 'green, yellow' in Beekes,^[1] *ǵʰelh₃- in Kroonen and Derksen,^[2][3] *gʰelh₃- 'yellow, green' in Matasović,^[4] and *g′ʰelh₃- 'green/yellow' in Clackson.^[5] The laryngeal is *h₃ because of Greek χλωρός (khlōrós, “pale green, greenish yellow”), from the zero grade *ǵhlh₃-ró-.^[1][6] LIV does not list the root.^[7] Zair sets up *ĝʰelh₃- beside other, tentative roots for colour and light, *ĝʰleh₁-, *ĝʰel- and *gel-, so that the Celtic forms cannot be assigned to a seṭ or an aniṭ root from the comparative evidence.^[8]

Pokorny's *ghel- 'to call, cry' is another root,^[9] and so is his *g^hel- 'to cut', which he marks with two question marks.^[10]

Morphology

The root makes mainly adjectives: an i-stem *ǵhelh₃-i- in Indo-Iranian, *ǵhelh₃-uo- in Latin, Lithuanian and Germanic, *ǵhlh₃-ró- in Greek and *ǵhelh₃-en-o- in Slavic.^[2][11] Beekes thinks a primary verb, perhaps kept in Lithuanian žélti (“to sprout”), first referred to the green-yellow colour of germinating plants.^[12] Smoczyński reconstructs Lithuanian žélti as a reflex of the verb.^[13]

Evidence

Clackson gives reflexes in Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Welsh, Old High German, Old Church Slavonic and Lithuanian.^[5] Kroonen adds Avestan zairi- (“yellow, greenish”) and the words for gold in Germanic, Slavic and Latvian.^[2][14] There are no Anatolian or Tocharian reflexes in these sources.^[5][2] Matasović finds Pokorny's derivation of the Celtic word for 'clean' from this root formally difficult and semantically unconvincing, while the Celtic word for woad could in principle belong here.^[15]

Meanings

1. green, yellow^[1][5][4]
2. to turn green, to turn yellow^[13]

Pokorny's root included 'to shine' and also 'gold' and 'blue' in its gloss;^[16] the modern sources gloss it as a colour.^[1][5] For the Baltic development from 'light green' through 'yellow' to 'red', Smoczyński refers to ALEW.^[17] Beekes takes Greek χολή (kholḗ, “bile”) and Ancient Greek χόλος (khólos) as primary nouns of the root.^[12]

Derivatives

• *ǵhlh₃-ró-: Ancient Greek χλωρός (khlōrós, “pale green, greenish yellow”).^[1]
• *ǵhelh₃-uo-: Lithuanian žel̃vas (“greenish”), Latin helvus (“yellow, dun”).^[2]
• *ǵhelh₃-en-o-: Proto-Slavic *zelènъ (“green”).^[3][2]
• *ǵʰlh₃-to- 'gold': Old Norse gull (“gold”) and Old English gold;^[14] Latvian zèlts (“gold”).^[18]
• Latin holus (“green plants, vegetables”).^[1]

Reflexes

• Greek: Ancient Greek χλόη (khlóē, “first green shoots”), Ancient Greek χλωρός (khlōrós).^[1]
• Italic: Latin helvus (“yellowish”), from Proto-Italic *χeliwo-.^[11]
• Celtic: Old Irish gel (“white, fair, shining”), Proto-Celtic *gelo- (“yellow, white”).^[4]
• Germanic: Proto-Germanic *gelwa- (“yellow”).^[2]
• Baltic: Lithuanian žélti (“to grow green, sprout”).^[13]
• Slavic: Proto-Slavic *zelènъ (“green”).^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. χλόη
2. ^ a b c d e f g Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 174
3. ^ a b c Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 541
4. ^ a b c Matasović, Ranko (2009), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic, Leiden: Brill, p. 161
5. ^ a b c d e Clackson, James (2007), Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction, Cambridge: CUP
6. ^ Olsen, Birgit Anette (1999), The Noun in Biblical Armenian: Origin and Word-Formation, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, p. 51
7. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert
8. ^ Zair, Nicholas (2012), The Reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European Laryngeals in Celtic, Leiden: Brill, p. 74
9. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke, p. s.v. ghel-
10. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke, p. s.v. g^hel-2
11. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. helvus
12. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. χολή
13. ^ a b c Smoczyński, Wojciech (2018), Lithuanian Etymological Dictionary, Berlin: Peter Lang, p. 2318
14. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 194
15. ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic, Leiden: Brill, p. 165
16. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke, p. s.v. ĝhel- 1
17. ^ Smoczyński, Wojciech (2018), Lithuanian Etymological Dictionary, Berlin: Peter Lang, p. 2304
18. ^ Smoczyński, Wojciech (2018), Lithuanian Etymological Dictionary, Berlin: Peter Lang, p. 2317