Cognate Set 6799 – Meaning: snake
- IE-CoR reference form:
- colubra
- IE-CoR reference language:
- Latin
- Ideophonic:
- no
- Parallel derivation:
- no
Found in 1 clade by 2 lexemes.
- References
- Ernout, Alfred and Meillet, Antoine: 133-134
S.v. colubra, -ae f. & coluber, -brī, -bris m. Without a clear etymology, perhaps a borrowing from Gk. χέλυδρος?
- Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm: 195
S.v. 2060 colubra 'Schlange', 2. *culǫbra.
- de Vaan, Michiel: 126
S.v. Lat. colubra 'snake, serpent'. Walde-Hofmann and IEW propose a preform *(s)kelo-dʰro- 'winding itself', while Ernout-Meillet consider a possible loanword from Gk. χέλυδρος. The former etymology is unlikely because the suffix *-dʰro- normally makes instrument nouns, whereas the latter is also unlikely because Gk. χέλυδρος is attested too recently and the meaning 'serpent' is probably secondary (χέλυς means '(kind of) tortoise'). A connection with colus 'distaff' could be possible, since a distaff is used to wind thread or fibre around it, thus *kolos-ro- might mean 'distaff-like' and a snake which winds about its own axis could be called a 'distaff-like animal'. This solution is not morphologically straightforward, however, since colus probably continues a u-stem, and one would have to assume an unattested s-stem *kʷelh₁-os- existed alongside it, from which the putative PIt. *kolos-ro- could be derived.
