*kel-

Reconstruction

LIV sets up *kel- "to drive on" as a root without a final laryngeal, because of Ancient Greek κλόνος (klónos, “turmoil of battle”), which it derives from *kl-ono-.^[1] Kümmel's addenda replace this entry with 1.*kelh₁-, following Hackstein and Seržant against LIV; the velar is set up only because of the Baltic forms and is not fully certain.^[2] The root is therefore treated under *kelh₁-¹.^[2] Beekes gives *kel- "drive, incite" only with a question mark.^[3]

Competing analyses

Beekes would separate Ancient Greek ὀκέλλω (okéllō, “to haul ashore”) as a Pre-Greek technical term, and leaves open whether some forms of Ancient Greek κέλομαι (kélomai, “to drive on, exhort, call”) belong to *kelh₁- "to call".^[3] He also keeps the Tocharian verb for "to lead, to bring" apart, deriving it from *kʷelh₁- "to turn", because that root has a laryngeal;^[3] Kümmel instead takes the Tocharian aorist as the main evidence for 1.*kelh₁-.^[2]

Meanings

1. to drive, to drive on^[1]

Other senses linked under this spelling belong to other roots. "To call" is 2.*kelh₁-, LIV's *kleh₁-: see *kelh₁-².^[4] "To cover, to hide" has a palatal, LIV's 1.*k̑el-: see *ḱel-.^[5] The words for "hill" and "to rise" belong to LIV's *kelH- "to tower up", which Kümmel writes *kelh₃- "to rise";^[6][7] de Vaan derives Latin collis (“hill”) from *klH- "to lift": see *kelH-.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert, p. s.v. *kel-
2. ^ a b c Kümmel, Martin Joachim, Addenda und Corrigenda zu LIV², online document, last change 16 June 2026, p. 53
3. ^ a b c 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. κέλλω
4. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert, p. s.v. *kleh₁-
5. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert, p. s.v. 1.*k̑el-
6. ^ Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert, p. s.v. *kelH-
7. ^ Kümmel, Martin Joachim, Addenda und Corrigenda zu LIV², online document, last change 16 June 2026, p. 54
8. ^ 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. collis