Cognate Set 7535 – Meaning: yellow

IE-CoR reference form:
*g̑ʰelh₃-
IE-CoR reference language:
Proto-Indo-European
Ideophonic:
no
Parallel derivation:
no
Justification:
Hellenic, Indo-Iranic, Balto-Slavic, and Germanic lexemes derived from PIE *g̑ʰelh₃- 'yellow, green'. Regarding the irregular correspondence of the initial velar in Lithuanian and Old Prussian, see Derksen 2015:169-170 (but cf. ALEW 309). For individual branches cf. Dawkins 1916:661, Beekes 2010:1638, EWAia II:805-806, Turner 1962–1966:809 no. 13990, ALEW 309, Derksen 2015:169-170, Derksen 2008:565-566, Kroonen 2013:174).
Found in clades:
Baltic, Germanic, Hellenic, Indic, Iranic, Slavic
Revised by:
Matthew Scarborough
Found in 6 clades by 67 lexemes.
Language Lexeme Native script Phonetic Phonemic Notes
79   Bulgarian ž″lt жълт ʒɤɫt ʒɤlt
98   Belarusian žoŭty жоўты ˈʐɔwtɨ ˈʐovti
93   Czech žlutý ˈʒlutiː ˈʒlutiː
110   Danish gul ˈɡuˀl
116   Dutch geel ɣel
112   English yellow ˈjɛləʊ
104   Faroese gulur ˈɡ̊uːlʊɹ
117   Flemish geel
114   Frisian geel ɡeːl
122   German gelb ˈɡɛlb̥ ˈɡɛlb
103   Icelandic gulur ˈɡ̊ʏːlʏr Replaced GULR.
76   Lithuanian geltónas ɡʲɛltˈoːnɐs ɡʲɛltˈoːnas
95   Sorbian: Lower žołty ˈʐowtɘ̟ ˈʐowtɘ̟
94   Sorbian: Upper žołty ˈʒotɘ̟ ˈʒotɘ̟
80   Macedonian žolt жолт ʒo̞ɫt ʒolt
88   Polish żółty ˈʐuwtɘ̟ ˈʐuwtɨ
105   Norwegian: Bokmål gul ɡʉːl ɡʉːl
97   Russian žëltyj жёлтый ˈʐɔɫtɘj ˈʐoltij
83   Serbo-Croat žut ʐûːt ʐûːt
91   Slovak žltý ˈʒl̩tiː ˈʒltiː
109   Swedish gul ɡʉːl
99   Ukrainian žovtij жовтий ˈʐɔwtɪ̽j ˈʐovtɪj
51   Wakhi zart zart
121   Luxembourgish giel ɡiəl ɡiəl
56   Kurdish N.: Bahdini zer zæɾ zær
25   Bengali halud হলুদ holud̪
74   Latvian dzeltens ˈdzæltæns dzæltæns spaces or dashes inserted
77   Old Prussian gelatynan EV n.
21   Vedic: Early hári- हरि- ˈɦɐɾi- hári- also 'green, golden'
46   Avestan: Younger zairita 𐬰𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬙𐬀 zarita more frequently used than zairi- (zairi- is mostly used in compounds)
34   Kashmiri lidor لِدور lʲod̪or ljod̪or
107   Elfdalian guol ɡʉəl ɡʉəl
108   Old Swedish gul ɡuːl ɡuːl
78   Old Church Slavonic žl′t′ жльтъ ʒl̩ʲtʊ̆ ʒl̩ʲtʊ The word 'жльтъ' is not attested in OCS. However, the derivative 'жльтѣница' 'a kind of plant with yellow flowers' and the contaminated form 'жльчь' (instead of / alongside зльчь) 'gall' show that such an adjective did exist. An alternative lexeme is 'плавъ' but it has a more specific meaning 'fair, fawn, colour of ripe cereals'.
49   Khotanese ysīḍä ziːɽə ziːɖə
90   Polabian zåuknĕ ˈzɒuknɘ ˈzɒuknɘ Verb 'to become yellow'.
89   Kashubian żôłti ˈʒɛ̽wtɘ̟ ˈʒɜwti
9   Greek: Cappadocian chleró χλερό xleˈro xleˈro also /xloˈro/
75   Latgalian dzaltons ˈdzaltɔnts dzaltɔns
87   Old Polish żółty ˈʐoːɫtɨː ˈʐoːltiː
92   Old Czech žlutý ˈʒɫutɨː ˈʒlutiː
96   Old Novgorod želtyi желтыи ˈʒɛɫtʲɛjɪ̆ ˈʒɛltʲɛjɪ
100   Rusyn žọ́wtωj ˈʐowtɤ̟j ˈʐovtɯj
81   Macedonian: Suho žlъ̀t ʒlət ʒlət
82   Macedonian: Visoka žъ̀lt ʒəlt ʒəlt
86   Slovene: Kostel žolt ʒuːt ʒuːt
84   Slovene: Early Modern ṡholt
123   German: Bernese gälb ɡ̊æʊb̥ ɡ̊ælb̥
62   Tati zard zærd
48   Sogdian zertē zyrty zerteː reconstructed from M zyrty etc.
63   Mazanderani zard zærd
57   Kurdish C.: Jafi zard zærd
47   Khwarazmian zarīr zryr zariːr
50   Pashto zyarr زيړ zjaɽ zjaɽ
61   Raji: Barzoki zạrd za̠ˁɾd̪ za̠ˁɾd̪
58   Kurdish S.: Elami zard zaɾd
60   Hawrami zard zærd
119   Old High German gelo ˈɡelo ˈɡelo
52   Sarikoli zird ziɾd
120   Middle High German gel ɡel ɡel
111   Old English ġeolu ˈjeo̯lu ˈjeo̯lu
118   Old Saxon gelo ˈɣelo ˈɣelo
115   Middle Dutch ghelu ˈɣeːly ˈɣeːly
102   Old Icelandic gulr ɡulr ɡulr
106   Norwegian: Nynorsk gul ɡʉːl ɡʉːl
59   Kurdish S.: Qorveh zard zærd
24   Assamese hālôdhīẏā হালধীয়া halɔdʰijɑ
References
  • Beekes, Robert: 1638
    Cf. s.v. Ancient Greek χλωρός '(pale) green' < PIE *g̑ʰl̥h₃-ró-. The same root *g̑ʰelh₃- 'green, yellow' occurs in Baltic, Slavic, and Latin, but with different derivations (e.g. Lith. žélti 'to green, sprout', OCS зєлєнъ (translating Greek χλωρός, πράσινος), Lat. holus 'green plants, vegetables, cabbage').
  • Dawkins, R. M.: 661
    S.v. χλωρός, in Ancient Greek 'yellow, pale; green, fresh', only surviving in the sense 'green, fresh' in other Mod. dialects. In Cappadocian χλερό with meaning 'yellow'.
  • Derksen, Rick: 565-566
    Cf. s.v. Proto-Slavic *žьltъ adj. 'yellow' based on a zero-grade fromation *g̑ʰl̥h₃-.
  • Derksen, Rick: 169-170
    S.v. Lith. geltónas 'yellow', derived from Lith. geltas 'yellow', ultimately derived from PIE *g̑ʰelh₃- (cf. Skt. hári- 'fallow, yellowish, greenish'; Gk. χλωρός 'pale, greenish, yellow'; Lat. helvus 'yellowish', OHG gelo 'yellow'. The depalatalised velar must have originated in a zero-grade, where the palatovelar was originally followed by a syllabic resonant. This suggests that the Baltic e-grade in this adjective is secondary. The regular reflex before a full grade is found, e.g., in Latv. zȩ̀lts 'gold'.
  • Hock, Wolfgang and Fecht, Rainer and Feulner, Anna Helene and Hill, Eugen and Wodtko, Dagmar S.: 309
    Cf. s.v. OLith. gel̃sti 'gelb werden' with derived adj. geltónas 'gelb' (BSl. Latv. dzȩltãns 'gelb', OPr. gelatynan 'gelb', SCr. žȗtī. Ru. žëltyj, etc.).
  • Kroonen, Guus: 174
    S.v. Proto-Germanic *gelwa- ~ *gulu- 'yellow', from PIE *g̑ʰ(e)lh₃-u(o)- (cf. Lat. helvus 'yellow, dun', Lith. žel̃vas 'greenish' < *g̑elh₃-uo-; Skt. hári-, Av. zairi- 'yellow, greenish' < *g̑ʰelh₃-i-; Gk. χλωρός 'pale green, greenish yellow' < *g̑ʰelh₃-ró-; Lith. žélti (želiù) 'to grow, flourish', Latv. zel̂t < *gʰelh₃-ie-; OCS zelenъ, Russ. zelënyj < *g̑ʰelh₃-en-o-).
  • Mayrhofer, Manfred: II:805-806
    S.v. Ved. hári- 'fahl, gelblich, grünlich' < PIE *g̑ʰelh₃-i- (cf. Gk. χλωρός 'pale green, green-yellow', OHG gelo 'yellow', Lith. žélti 'to flourish, turn green').
  • Turner, Ralph Lilley: 809
    For Nuristan languages cf. s.v. 13990 haridra- '*green, *yellow' (m. 'yellow sandal tree') to Ved. hari-.