*kʷelh₁-

Reconstruction

LIV reconstructs *kʷelh₁- 'to make a turn, to turn around'.^[1] The root is seṭ on the evidence of Vedic, Greek and perhaps Tocharian.^[1] LIV argues for *h₁ from Greek τῆλε (têle, “far off”), taken after Harðarson from a locative *kʷēlh₁ 'at the turning point'.^[1] De Vaan, Matasović and Zair also write *kʷelh₁-,^[2][3][4] while Beekes writes *kʷel(H)- under the word for 'wheel'.^[5] Watkins's *kʷel- 'to revolve, move around, sojourn, dwell' is this root.^[6]

Morphology

LIV calls the root telic, because it has a root aorist *kʷélh₁-/kʷl̥h₁-, continued by a Greek aorist meaning 'became' and by the Latin perfect.^[1] It also sets up a nasal-infix present *kʷl̥-né/n-h₁-, in Ancient Greek τέλλω (téllō, “to perform”) and Middle Welsh pall-; a thematic present *kʷélh₁-e-, in Ancient Greek πέλομαι (pélomai), Latin colō and Albanian sjell (“to bring, to turn”); a dʰe-present in Ancient Greek τελέθω (teléthō); a perfect; and a causative *kʷolh₁-éi̯e-, in Cuneiform Luwian kuwaliti (“turns”) and Ancient Greek πολέω (poléō).^[1] Kümmel adds Cuneiform Luwian kuwalaru (“shall turn”) to the aorist, with a query, and Umbrian am-boltu to the present.^[7]

Beekes notes that πέλομαι must be Aeolic, because π- appears before ε.^[8] Ionic-Attic has the expected τ- in Ancient Greek τέλομαι (télomai), Ancient Greek τέλλομαι (téllomai) and Ancient Greek τέλος (télos).^[8]

Evidence

The root is cited from Anatolian, Indo-Iranian, Greek, Italic, Celtic, Albanian, Armenian and Balto-Slavic.^[1][9] LIV also listed a Tocharian verb meaning 'to lead, to bring',^[1] but Kümmel strikes it, chiefly because it shows no labiovelar reflex, and assigns it with Hackstein and Seržant to *kelh₁- 'to drive, to move'.^[7] The Tocharian word for 'wagon' continues the reduplicated noun for 'wheel'.^[10]

Competing analyses

Beekes doubts that Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle, “far off”) contained a laryngeal, which weakens LIV's argument for *h₁.^[11] Pokorny set up a separate root *kʷel- 'far' for this word and its relatives;^[12] Harðarson, followed by LIV, takes the word from this root.^[1]

Meanings

1. to make a turn, to turn around,^[1] to go round^[2][8]

The branches developed 'to become, to be' in Greek, Armenian and Albanian, 'to move about, to wander' in Indo-Iranian, and 'to till, to dwell, to tend' in Latin.^[1] Beekes sees an inherited link with cattle-breeding and farming in compounds such as Ancient Greek αἰπόλος (aipólos) and Ancient Greek βουκόλος (boukólos).^[8]

Derivatives

• The reduplicated *kʷe-kʷl-o- 'wheel': Sanskrit चक्र (cakrá, “wheel”), Ancient Greek κύκλος (kúklos, “circle, wheel”), Old English hwēol (“wheel”).^[5] Tocharian B kokale (“cart, wagon”) goes back to *kʷukʷlo-.^[10]
• An s-stem *kʷol(H)-es-: Old Church Slavonic коло (kolo, “wheel”).^[9]
• Ancient Greek τέλος (télos, “goal”) and Lithuanian kelỹs (“knee”), from *kwel-.^[2]

Reflexes

• Anatolian: Cuneiform Luwian kuwaliti (“turns”), in LIV's list.^[1]
• Indo-Iranian: Proto-Iranian *čarH (“to come and go, wander”).^[13]
• Greek: Ancient Greek πέλομαι (pélomai, “to move, to be”).^[8]
• Italic: Latin colō (“to inhabit, to tend, to till”).^[2]
• Celtic: Old Irish imm-cella (“surrounds”), Middle Welsh pallu (“to fail, to perish”).^[3]
• Albanian: Albanian sjell (“to bring”).^[14]
• Slavic: Old Church Slavonic коло (kolo, “wheel”).^[9]
• Tocharian: Tocharian B kokale (“cart, wagon”).^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert, p. s.v. *kʷelh₁-
2. ^ a b c d 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. colō
3. ^ a b Matasović, Ranko (2009), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic, Leiden: Brill, p. 180
4. ^ Zair, Nicholas (2012), The Reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European Laryngeals in Celtic, Leiden: Brill, p. 91
5. ^ 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. κύκλος
6. ^ Watkins, Calvert (2000), "Indo-European Roots", appendix to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin, p. s.v. kʷel-
7. ^ a b Kümmel, Martin Joachim, Addenda und Corrigenda zu LIV², online document, last change 16 June 2026, p. 56
8. ^ a b c d e 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. πέλομαι
9. ^ a b c Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 229
10. ^ a b c Adams, Douglas Q. (2013), A Dictionary of Tocharian B, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Rodopi, p. 214
11. ^ 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. τῆλε
12. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke, p. s.v. kʷel-2
13. ^ Cheung, Johnny (2007), Etymological Dictionary of the Iranian Verb, Leiden: Brill, p. 58
14. ^ Kapović, Mate, ed. (2017), The Indo-European Languages, 2nd ed., London: Routledge, p. 590