Cognate Set 283 – Meaning: salt

IE-CoR reference form:
*sal-
IE-CoR reference language:
Proto-Indo-European
Ideophonic:
no
Parallel derivation:
no
Justification:
Tocharian, Hellenic, Armenian, Balto-Slavic, Germanic, Italic, and Celtic lexemes derived from PIE *sal- 'salt' (NIL 586-590, EIEC 498, IEW 878-879, cf. Adams 2013:742, Beekes 2010:177, Martirosyan 2010:24, 40-41, ALEW 887-888, Derksen 2015:548-549, Derksen 2008:461, Kroonen 2013:425, de Vaan 2008:535, Matasović 2009:319). The root is difficult to reconstruct; the traditional reconstruction as *sal- has been followed here after NIL, but note in order to avoid reconstructing PIE *a the Leiden school reconstructs a hysterokinetic l-stem: nom.sg. *séh₂‑l‑s, acc.sg. *sh₂‑el‑m, gen.sg. *sh₂‑l‑ós (Kortlandt 1985b:119, Beekes 1995:177, cf. also Rieken 1999:424n2103). The Germanic forms in this set show an extension in *d which may be on analogy to *su̯eh₂d- 'sweet' cognate set 5109, alternatively the *-d- might be explained as a compound with the root *deh₃- 'give' (cf. ALEW 886-887 s.v. Old Lithuanian saldùs 'sweet' and further discussion in cognate set 5157).
Found in clades:
Armenian, Baltic, Celtic, Germanic, Hellenic, Italic, Slavic, Tocharian
Revised by:
Matthew Scarborough
Found in 8 clades by 95 lexemes.
Language Lexeme Native script Phonetic Phonemic Notes
17   Armenian: Western ał աղ ɑʁ ɑʁ
16   Armenian: Eastern ał աղ ɑʁ ɑʁ
79   Bulgarian sol сол sɔɫ sol
98   Belarusian sol′ соль sɔlʲ solʲ
141   Catalan sal saɫ sal
93   Czech sůl suːl suːl
110   Danish salt ˈsalˀd
116   Dutch zout zɑut
112   English salt sɔlt
104   Faroese salt sal̥t
117   Flemish zout
136   French sel sɛl sɛl
114   Frisian sâlt sɔːt
122   German Salz ˈzalts ˈzalts
8   Greek: Modern Std aláti αλάτι aˈlati aˈlati
103   Icelandic salt sal̥t
161   Gaelic: Irish salann ˈsˠalˠən̪ˠ ˈsˠalən̪ˠ
129   Italian sale ˈsaːle ˈsale
131   Ladin sel ˈsel
95   Sorbian: Lower sol sɔlʲ sol
94   Sorbian: Upper sól, sel sʊl, sɛl, sɘ̟l sʊl, sɛl, sɘ̟l
80   Macedonian sol сол so̞ɫ sol
88   Polish sól sul sul
144   Portuguese sal sal sal
105   Norwegian: Bokmål salt sɑlt sɑlt
97   Russian sol' соль sɔlʲ solʲ
134   Sardinian: Logudoro sale ˈsaːlɛ ˈsaːlɛ
133   Sardinian: Nuoro sale ˈsaːlɛ ˈsaːlɛ
83   Serbo-Croat sol sô̞ːɫ sôːl Regional (eastern) variant: 'so' [sɔ̂:].
91   Slovak soľ sɔlʲ solʲ
85   Slovene sol sóːw sóːv
143   Spanish sal sal sal
109   Swedish salt salt
99   Ukrainian sìl′ сіль sʲilʲ silʲ
137   Walloon sé se se
3   Tocharian A sāle sale sale
4   Tocharian B salyiye səˈlʲije saˈlʲəje
124   Latin sāl saːɫ saːl G.sg. salis
6   Greek: Ancient háls ἅλς háls háls G.sg. ἁλός
121   Luxembourgish Salz zɑlts zɑlts
74   Latvian sāls ˈsɑːls sɑːls
77   Old Prussian sali
78   Old Church Slavonic solĭ соль sɔlɪ̆ solɪ
130   Friulian sâl ˈsaːl ˈsaːl
158   Old Irish salann ˈsˠalˠan̪ˠ ˈsalan̪
15   Armenian: Classical ał աղ ɑʁ ɑɫ-i-
147   Umbrian šalu Native script: šalu (acc.sg., IIa 18).
107   Elfdalian solt solt solt
108   Old Swedish salt salt salt
155   Middle Breton holen, olen, olèn, hòalen ˈhoːlen, ˈoːlen
7   Greek: New Testament háls ἅλς als als
90   Polabian süli syˈli syˈli Genetive sg.
89   Kashubian sól sul sul
11   Greek: Cypriot álas άλας ˈɐlɐs ˈɐlɐs
14   Tsakonian: Propontis a(l/ou)átshi α(λ/ου)άτσ̔ι aˈ(ʟ/w)atsʰi aˈlatsʰi
13   Tsakonian: Peloponnese ˈatshi άτσ̔ι ˈatsʰi ˈatsʰi
75   Latgalian suoļs suɔlʲs suɔlʲs
9   Greek: Cappadocian álas άλας ˈalas ˈalas
10   Greek: Pontic álas άλας ˈalas ˈalas
12   Greek: Italiot ála άλα ˈala ˈala It.
128   Neapolitan sale ˈsalə ˈsalə
135   Anglo-Norman sel
139   Franco-Provençal sö ˈsɒː ˈsɔː
142   Old Spanish sal sal
125   Romanian sare ˈsaɾe ˈsare
160   Gaelic: Manx sollan ˈsolan ˈsolan salann
159   Gaelic: Scottish salann sal̪ˠən̪ˠ
157   Breton: Treger holen ˈho̞ːlën ˈholën
156   Breton: Gwened halèn häːlɛ̃ːn
151   Welsh: North halen ˈhalan ˈhalan
87   Old Polish sól soːlʲ soːlʲ
150   Middle Welsh halen halen
92   Old Czech sól ˈsɔ̝ːl soːlj
96   Old Novgorod solĭ соль sɔlʲ sɔlʲ
100   Rusyn s′ïl′ sʲi̞(lʲ/ʎ) sʲi̞lʲ
81   Macedonian: Suho sòl′ so̞lʲ solj
82   Macedonian: Visoka sòl′ so̞lʲ solj
86   Slovene: Kostel sol so̝w so̝l
84   Slovene: Early Modern ſul
123   German: Bernese Salz saʊts salts
138   Old Occitan sau also: sal
126   Megleno-Romanian sári
140   Old Catalan sal sal sal
119   Old High German salz salts salts
113   Old Frisian salt salt salt
120   Middle High German salz salts salts
111   Old English sealt sæɑ̯lt sæɑ̯lt
118   Old Saxon salt salt salt
115   Middle Dutch sout zɔu̯t zɔu̯t
102   Old Icelandic salt salt salt
101   Gothic salt 𐍃𐌰𐌻𐍄 salt salt
153   Late Cornish holan, hollan ˈholən
106   Norwegian: Nynorsk salt sɑlt sɑlt
145   Portuguese: Brazilian sal
132   Milanese sã saː
References
  • Adams, Douglas Q.: 742
    S.v. TochB salyiye 'salt', reflecting pre-Proto-Tocharian *sali-h₂en-, a derivative of PIE *sali- 'salty' (cf. Skt. sali-la- 'salty, ocean', Arm. sał (an i-stem), Old Lat. sale 'salt', OCS salь; more distantly Gk. ἅλς, Lat. sāl, etc.).
  • Beekes, Robert: 177
    Reconstructs a hysterokinetic l-stem with the following ablaut: NSg. *séh₂‑l‑s, ASg. *sh₂‑el‑m, GSg. *sh₂‑l‑ós, cf. Kortlandt (1985:119).
  • Beekes, Robert: 74-75
    S.v. ἅλς, ἁλός 'salt' < PIE *seh₂-l- 'salt'.
  • Derksen, Rick: 461
    S.v. *solь 'salt', from PIE *sh₂el- (cf. Gk. ἅλς, Lat. sāl, OHG salz, OIr. salann).
  • Derksen, Rick: 548-549
    S.v. Latv. sā̀ls 'salt', from PIE *seh₂-l-, *sh₂-el-. Latv. sā̀ls reflects the N.sg. *sēh₂-l-s of a hysterodynamic paradigm according to Kortlandt (1985b:118-119).
  • Hock, Wolfgang and Fecht, Rainer and Feulner, Anna Helene and Hill, Eugen and Wodtko, Dagmar S.: 887-888
    Cf. s.v. OLith. sálti 'süß werden' (BSl. Latv. sā̀ls 'Salz', OPr. sal 'Salz', OCS solь 'Salz', etc.), from PIE *sal- 'Salz' (cf. Gk. ἅλς, ἁλός 'Salz', Arm. ał 'Salz', Lat. sāl, G.sg. sălis 'Salz; Meerwasser', OIr. sál 'Salzwasser, Meer', MW halwyn 'Salz', Goth. salt 'Salz', TochB salyiye 'Salz').
  • Kortlandt, Frederik: 119
    Reconstructs N.sg. *seh₂ls, A.sg. *sh₂elm, G.sg. *sh₂los.
  • Kroonen, Guus: 425
    S.v. Proto-Germanic *salta- 'salt', a neuter collective noun derived from the strong verb saltan- 'to salt (down), pickle', from *sh₂ld-ie-, an extended form of the stem *sh₂el-, cf. (Lith. saldùs 'sweet', OCS sladъkъ 'id.', Ru. dial. solódkij 'id.').
  • Martirosyan, Hrach: 24, 40-41
    S.v. Arm. ał 'salt' and ałt 'salt'; connected to Gk. ἅλς, Lat. sāl, etc.
  • Matasović, Ranko: 319
    S.v. Proto-Celtic *salano- 'salt', a derivative of PIE *seh₂l- 'salt'.
  • Rieken, Elisabeth: 424, fn. 2103
    The reconstruction of the PIE form is difficult. The underlying noun may be either root noun or an l-stem, belonging to one of several possible accentual patterns. The proto-forms of the individual branches display thus varying degrees of analogical levelling. Possibilities: *săl- < *sh₂l- or *sh₂al-; *sāl- < *sah₂l-; alternatively < *sh₂ḗl- or *sh₂ṓl- with analogical influence of *săl-.
  • Wodtko, Dagmar S. and Irslinger, Britta and Schneider, Carolin: 586-590
    S.v. *sal- 'Salz' (IEW 878f., EIEC 498). Cf. n1 on possible alternative reconstructions and references to further literature. Cf. esp. Rieken (1999:424f.) for further discussion.
  • de Vaan, Michiel: 535
    S.v. Lat. sāl, salis 'salt', from PIE *sē̆h₂-l-s (nom.), *sh₂-él-m (acc.), *sh₂-l-ós (gen.) 'salt'; *sh₂l-d- (or *sh₂el-d- or *seh₂l-d- 'salt'), cf. OIr. salann 'salt', Gk. ἅλς 'salt', Latv. sā̀ls 'salt', OCS solь, 'salt', Lith. saldùs 'sweet', OCS sladъkъ 'sweet', Goth. salt, OHG salz, etc.