Introduction

This is quite a large family with a number of borrowings into other language families. Because, it turns out, the Indo-European speakers' relationship with wheels is pretty important in a lot of people's history, like the Sumerians' relationship with reeds.

There is also a root *wel(h₁)-: "to turn, to wind, to eddy", which it's hard to argue is completely unrelated to *kʷel(h₁)-: "to roll, to turn"! But they're both quite big families, and I couldn't manage to do them both at once. The *wel(h₁)- family includes words like revolution, waltz, walk, vulgar, and wall. And then there's *welh₁-: "to choose, to want", possibly "to turn towards"?, with words like will and voloptuous.

Teaser

Full Text

Proto-Indo-European

Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁- to roll, to turn
- Proto-Indo-European *kʷélh₁eti rolls, travels primary verb
  - Albanian sjell to turn, to bring, to dawdle
  - Hellenic *kʷélō
    
    Classical Greek πέλω pélō I go, I become, I am
    
    Classical Greek πάλαι pálai gone, far away, long ago
    
    English paleo-
  - Indo-Iranian *čárati
    
    Indo-Aryan *ćárati
    
    Sanskrit 𑀘𑀭𑀢𑀺 cárati moves, walks, wanders, directs, behaves
    
    Pali carati walks, moves
    
    Iranian *čárati
    
    Avestan 𐬗𐬀𐬭𐬁𐬥𐬍 carānī I move, I approach
    
    Northern Iranian
    
    Scythian
    
    Ossetian цӕрын cæryn I live
    
    Pashto څرېدل caredal to take to pasture, to set to graze
    
    Western Iranian
    
    Northwestern Iranian
    
    Kurdish çerîn to set to graze
    
    Old Persian
    
    Persian چریدن to take to pasture, to set to graze
  - Italic *kʷelezi
    
    Latin colere I plow, I cultivate, I inhabit, I worship
    
    Latin -cola inhabitor, cultivator, worshipper
    
    Latin agricola farmer lit. "field-turner"
    
    Latin Agricola Farmer personal or family name
    
    English Agricola ^[1]
    
    French agricole agricultural
    
    Latin colōnus farmer, inhabitant, colonist
    
    Central Romance
    
    Italian colono colonist, settler, farmer
    
    Western Romance
    
    French colon colonist, colonizer, camper, sharecropper
    
    Spanish colono colonist, settler, farmer ^[2]
    
    Latin colōnia colony, settlement, estate
    
    English colony
    
    Latin Colōnia Agrippīna Agrippine Colony, Cologne
    
    Western Romance
    
    French Cologne
    
    English Cologne
    
    French eau de Cologne
    
    English cologne
    
    Russian одеколо́н odekolón cologne
    
    German Köln
    
    Latin Lindum Colōnia Lincoln with Lindum from Brythonic *Lindon meaning "pool"
    
    English Lincoln
    
    Italic *inkʷelō
    
    Italic *inkʷelīnos
    
    Latin inquilīnus sojourner, tenant, of foreign origin
- Proto-Indo-European *kʷl̥nh₁eti presumably a -ne- infix, but all descendants show assimilation of the zero-grade infix to the *l̥, resulting in *-Vll-
  - Celtic *kʷalleti
    
    Brythonic *pallad
    
    Welsh pallu to fail, to cease, to perish, to refuse
  - Hellenic
    
    Classical Greek τέλλω téllō I accomplish, I perform, I rise
    
    Classical Greek ἀνᾰτέλλω anatéllō I rise, I raise up, I grow, I bring to light
    
    Classical Greek ἀνατολή anatolḗ sun rise, rise, east, growth
    
    Medieval Latin Anatolia
    
    English Anatolia
    
    English Anatolian
    
    Greek Ανατόλιος Easterner (personal name)
    
    Latin Anatolius
    
    French Anatole
    
    Russian Анато́лий Anatólij
  - Tocharian
    
    Arshian källāṣ to lead, to bring
- Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁esyeti
  - Hellenic *kʷeléyyō
    
    Classical Greek τελέω teléō I complete, I fulfill, I perform, I present, I pay
    
    Classical Greek τέλεσμα télesma completion, payment, taxes, certificate
    
    Byzantine Greek τέλεσμα télesma completion, religious rite, talisman
    
    Arabic طلسم ṭilasm enigma, talisman, cryptogram
    
    French talisman
    
    English talisman
    
    Georgian თილისმა tilisma mascot, talisman
    
    Turkish tılsım charm, talisman
    
    French talisman
    
    English talisman
    
    English telesm
- Proto-Indo-European *kʷólh₁os
  - Balto-Slavic *kalas
    
    Slavic *kȍlo wheel, circle
  - Celtic *kʷolos
    
    Old Irish cul chariot?
    
    Old Irish culgaire chariot noise with gaire: "call, shout"
  - Hellenic *kʷólos
    
    Classical Greek πόλος pólos axle, pivot, hinge
    
    Greek πόλος pólos pole (of an axis or battery)
    
    Greek Βόρειος Πόλος North Pole
    
    Latin polus pole (of an axis)
    
    Old French pole
    
    French pôle
    
    English pole ^[3]
- Proto-Indo-European *kʷl̥h₁tós turned adjective
  - Italic *kʷəltos
    
    Latin cultus tilled, cultivated, nurtured, worshipped, religious group
    
    French culte
    
    English cult
    
    Latin cultūra care, cultuivation, agriculture, culture
    
    French culture
    
    English culture
    
    Italian cultura
    
    Spanish cultura
    
    Latin agricultūra "field-cultivation"
    
    English agriculture
    
    Medieval Latin cultīvus
    
    Medieval Latin cultivō
    
    Medieval Latin culativātus
    
    English cultivate
- Proto-Indo-European *kʷélh₁os
  - Hellenic *kʷélos
    
    Classical Greek τέλος télos completion, fulfillment, result, end, death, highest authority, taxes
    
    Greek τέλος end, finish
    
    Classical Greek Ἀριστοτέλης Aristotélēs personal name: Best-Result
    
    Latin Aristotelēs Aristotle
    
    English Aristotle
    
    Classical Greek ὑποτελής hupotelḗs subject to paying taxes, tributary, taxable
    
    Greek υποτελής ypotelís vassal, subordinate, submissive
    
    Classical Greek τελωνιον telōnion custom house
    
    Latin telonium toll booth, custom house, tariff
    
    Western Romance
    
    Old French tolniu
    
    French tonlieu market toll, tariff modified by association with lieu
    
    English telonium
    
    English thelony
    
    English tele(o)-
- Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁om
  - Balto-Slavic
    
    West Baltic
    
    Old Prussian kelan wheel
- Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlh₁os
  - Anatolian *kuakula?? wheels (collective) ^[4]
    
    Hittite 𒆪𒄢𒆷 KU.GUL.LA donut
    
    Sumerian 𒇀 GIGIR chariot
    
    Northwest Semitic *GLGL wheels, rolling
    
    Hebrew גלגל gálgal wheel
    
    Hebrew התגלגל hitgalgél to roll
    
    Hebrew גליל galíl circle, cylinder, wheel, region, district
    
    Hebrew הגליל haGalíl Galilee
    
    Classical Greek Γαλιλαία Galilaía Galilee
    
    Latin Galilaea Galilee
    
    French Galilée
    
    English Galilee
    
    Classical Greek Γαλιλαῖος Galilaîos Galilean
    
    Latin galilaeus Galilean, Christian
    
    Central Romance
    
    Italian Galileo Personal name: Galilean, Christian
    
    Italian Galileo Galilei
    
    English Galileo
    
    English Galilean
    
    English Galilean moon
    
    Italian Galilei Surname: son of or descendant of Galileo
    
    Italian Galileo Galilei
    
    Yiddish גליל Golel Galilee
  - Balto-Slavic *kaklas neck ^[5]
    
    East Baltic
    
    Lithuanian kãklas neck, collar
    
    Finnic *kakla
    
    Finnish kaula neck
  - Germanic *hwehwlą wheel
    
    North Germanic
    
    Old Norse hvél
    
    Icelandic hvel wheel, disk, circle
    
    Germanic *hweulō wheels
    
    North Germanic
    
    Old Norse hjól wheel
    
    Danish hjul wheel
    
    Icelandic hjól wheel, tire
    
    Icelandic reiðhjól bicycle
    
    West Germanic
    
    Old English hwēol wheel
    
    English wheel
    
    Frankish *wiol
    
    Dutch wiel wheel
  - Hellenic
    
    Classical Greek κῠ́κλος kúklos circle, wheel, crowd, sphere
    
    Greek κύκλος kýklos circle, cycle, course
    
    Latin cyclus circle, cycle
    
    French cycle
    
    English cycle
    
    Japanese サイクル saikuru cycle, bicycle
    
    French bicycle
    
    French bicyclette
    
    English bicycle
    
    Italian ciclo
    
    Spanish ciclo
    
    English Kuklos Adelphon Greek learned borrowing: "circle of brothers"
    
    English Ku Klux Klan
    
    Classical Greek κυκλόω kuklóō to go in a circle, to surround
    
    English cyclone
    
    Classical Greek Κύκλωψ Kúklōps cyclops partly ^[6]
    
    English cyclops
  - Indo-Iranian *čakrám wheel
    
    Indo-Aryan *ćakrám
    
    Sanskrit 𑀘𑀓𑁆𑀭 cakrá wheel, circle, cycle
    
    Magadhi
    
    Bengali চাকা caka
    
    Pali cakka wheel, circle, cycle, command
    
    Burmese စက် cak circle, wheel, cycle, machine
    
    Thai จักร jàk wheel, circle, gear, chakra, realm
    
    Sauraseni
    
    Madhya Sauraseni
    
    Hindi चक्कर cakkar circle, curve, roundabout
    
    Telugu చక్రము cakramu wheel
    
    English chakra
    
    English chakram
    
    Sanskrit 𑀘𑀓𑁆𑀭𑀯𑀭𑁆𑀢𑀺𑀦𑁆 cakravartin
    
    English chakravartin
    
    Iranian *čaxrám
    
    Avestan 𐬗𐬀𐬑𐬭𐬀 caxra wheel
    
    Northern Iranian
    
    Alanian
    
    Ossetian цалх calx wheel
    
    Pashto څرخ carx
    
    Western Iranian
    
    Northwestern Iranian
    
    Balochi چہر čahr
    
    Kurdish çerx wheel
    
    Old Persian
    
    Persian چرخ čarx wheel, cart, spool, pulley
    
    Iranian *čaxrákah spinning wheel
    
    Western Iranian
    
    Northwestern Iranian
    
    Balochi چہرگ čahrag
    
    Old Persian
    
    Persian چرخه čarxe spinning wheel
    
    Finnic *kecrä spindle, wheel, flywheel
    
    Finnish kehrä spindle, disk of the Sun or Moon
    
    Finnish kekri harvest festival "turning of the year?"
  - Phrygian κίκλην kíklēn
  - Tocharian *kukäle
    
    Arshian kukäl wagon, cart
    
    Kushean kokale wagon, cart
    
    Old Chinese *kla chariot ^[7]
    
    Middle Chinese 車 kɨʌ chariot (xiangqi), rook (chess) ^[7]
    
    Mandarin 車 jū chariot (xiangqi), rook (chess)
    
    Wu 車 geoi¹ chariot (xiangqi), rook (chess)
    
    Yue 車 jy¹ chariot (xiangqi), rook (chess)
    
    Min Nan 車 chhia
- Proto-Indo-European *kʷolh₁som
  - Italic *kʷolsom
    
    Latin collum neck ^[5]
    
    Central Romance
    
    Italian collo neck, collar, package
    
    Insular Romance
    
    Sardinian coddu neck
    
    Western Romance
    
    Old French col
    
    French cou neck
    
    French col collar, neck (of a vase, etc.)
    
    English col
    
    Spanish cuello neck, collar
    
    Latin collāris of the neck, collared
    
    Old French coler
    
    French colier
    
    English collar
    
    Irish coiléar collar, truss
- Proto-Indo-European *kʷolh₁sos
  - Germanic *halsaz neck ^[5]
    
    East Germanic
    
    Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐍃 hals neck
    
    North Germanic
    
    Old Norse hals neck
    
    Danish hals neck, throat
    
    Icelandic háls neck, throat, a person (metonymically)
    
    West Germanic
    
    Old English heals neck, prow of a ship
    
    English halse
    
    English hause
    
    English hawse
    
    English hawser partly, but mostly from Norman haucier: "to raise, to lift" from altus
    
    Scots hause
    
    Scots hausebane collar bone ^[8]
    
    Frankish *hals
    
    Dutch hals neck, throat
    
    Old High German hals
    
    German Hals neck, throat
    
    Yiddish האַלדז haldz neck
    
    Germanic *frijahalsaz free, unconstrained, freedom, liberty lit. "free-neck"
    
    East Germanic
    
    Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌻𐍃 freihals freedom, liberty
    
    North Germanic
    
    Old Norse frjáls
    
    Icelandic frjáls free
    
    Old Norse frelsa to free, to rescue
    
    Danish frelse to save, to rescue, to redeem
    
    West Germanic
    
    Old English frēols freedom, privilege, immunity, peace, festival day
    
    Old High German frīhals freedom, liberation
    
    Germanic *halsōną to neck, to embrace
    
    North Germanic
    
    Old Norse halsa
    
    Swedish halsa to chug
    
    West Germanic
    
    Old English *healsian
    
    Middle English halsen to embrace
- Proto-Indo-European *kʷl̥h₁is
  - Hellenic
    
    Classical Greek *pális back, reverse "turned part"
    
    Classical Greek πᾰ́λῐν pálin backwards, again
    
    Greek πάλι páli again
    
    Coptic ⲡⲁⲗⲓⲛ palin again
    
    Classical Greek πᾰλῐ́μψηστος palímpsēstos re-scraped
    
    Latin palimpsēstus manuscript scraped clean for re-use, palimpsest
    
    English palimpsest
- Proto-Indo-European ?
  - Tocharian
    
    Kushean kleŋke wagon
    
    Old Chinese *kla chariot ^[7]
    
    Middle Chinese 車 kɨʌ chariot (xiangqi), rook (chess) ^[7]
    
    Mandarin 車 jū chariot (xiangqi), rook (chess)
    
    Wu 車 geoi¹ chariot (xiangqi), rook (chess)
    
    Yue 車 jy¹ chariot (xiangqi), rook (chess)
    
    Min Nan 車 chhia
    
    Old Chinese *kʰlja chariot, cart ^[7]
    
    Middle Chinese 車 t͡ɕʰia chariot, cart, vehicle, machine, to lathe ^[7]
    
    Mandarin 車 chē chariot, cart, vehicle, machine, to lathe
    
    Wu 車 tsho¹ chariot, cart, vehicle, machine, to lathe
    
    Yue 車 ce¹ chariot, cart, vehicle, machine, to lathe
    
    Japanese 車 sha vehicle, train car, counter for vehicle
    
    Korean 차 cha vehicle, especially a car
    
    Vietnamese xe wheeled vehicle
    
    Old Chinese *kloːɡ hub, wheel, chariot
    
    Middle Chinese 轂 kuk̚ hub, wheel, chariot
    
    Mandarin 轂 gǔ hub, wheel, chariot
    
    Yue 轂 guk¹ hub, wheel, chariot
    
    Min Nan 轂 kok hub, wheel, chariot
- Uralic *kulke- to go, to walk
  - Finno-Ugric
    
    Finnic *kulkedak
    
    Finnish kulkea to go, to walk, to travel
    
    Ugric
    
    Hungarian halad to proceed, to advance
  - Samoyedic
    
    Nenets хуˮла χūllā to drift
- Proto-Indo-European *kʷlh₁ewt- to turn, to change a new root re-analyzed from a zero-grade form?
  - Proto-Indo-European *kʷlh₁utsḱéti iterative verb
    
    Tocharian *klutk-
    
    Arshian lutk- to make, to change, to become, to turn into
    
    Kushean klutk- to make, to change, to become, to turn into
  - Proto-Indo-European *kʷlh₁ewtsm̥
    
    Albanian qeshë was suppletive past tense of jam
- Proto-Indo-European *klh₁eyp-? (flat) bread ^[9]
  - Balto-Slavic
    
    East Baltic
    
    Lithuanian kliẽpas loaf of bread
  - Germanic *hlaibaz
    
    East Germanic
    
    Gothic 𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍆𐍃 hlaifs bread
    
    Slavic *xlě̀bъ
    
    East Slavic хлѣбъ xlěbŭ
    
    Russian хлеб xleb bread, loaf, living
    
    South Slavic
    
    Old Church Slavonic хлѣбъ xlěbŭ bread, loaf
    
    Serbo-Croatian хље̏б hljȅb bread, loaf
    
    West Slavic
    
    Polish chleb bread, work
    
    North Germanic
    
    Old Norse hleifr loaf
    
    Danish lev
    
    Icelandic hleifur loaf (of bread)
    
    West Germanic
    
    Old English hlāf bread, loaf
    
    English loaf
    
    Scots laif
    
    Old English hlǣfdīġe mistress of a household lit. "bread-kneader"
    
    English lady
    
    Old English hlāfweard master of a houshold lit. "bread-guard"
    
    English lord
    
    Scots laird
    
    Finnic *laipa
    
    Finnish leipä bread
    
    Samic *lājpē
    
    Northern Sami láibi bread
  - Hellenic
    
    Classical Greek κρῑ́βᾰνος krī́banos bread pan, bread oven also appears as klī́banos
    
    Greek κλίβανος furnace
    
    Latin clībanus breadpan, oven, furnace
Proto-Indo-European *wel(h₁)- to turn, to wind, to eddy
Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- to choose, to want

Visual

Collected English words

Footnotes

As in Georgius Agricola, the Latinate name of Georg Bauer the author of "De Rei Metallica", the foundational work of geology. "Bauer" means "farmer" in German, thus the translation to "Agricola". But also, "Georg(ius)" is from Greek γεωργός geōrgós: "farmer" ("geo-" + "ergo-": "earth-work"), so he is "Farmer Farmer (Farmer)".

Do Spanish speakers make puns on Cristobal Colón (the Spanish version of Christopher Columbus) and colono: "colonizer"?

(He was probably natively Cristoffa Corombo. In any case the family name meant "dove".)

English pole as in North Pole or the pole of a magnet is from Greek πόλος pólos: "axle, pivot point". But pole like an upright stick is from Latin palus, thus setting up much confusion as to whether there is a pole at the North Pole.

Sumerian 𒇀 GIGIR: "chariot" and/or Hebrew גלגל gálgal: "wheel" may derive from IE introduction of the chariot, but it is far from certain.

Words for "neck" are thought to come from this root via the concept of "thing that turns (your head)". Compare Armenian պարանոց paranocʿ: "neck" which is understood to be paranim: "to turn" plus -ocʿ which derives tool nouns: "thing used for turning".

But since none of them preserve the *kʷ, identification with this root is uncertain. Baltic is a satem language, so merge of *kʷ and *k is regular. Latin regularly collapses *kʷo- into cu-, but collum shows slightly irregular co- instead. Germanic is fully irregular with *halsaz instead of *hwalsaz—perhaps the *w was absorbed by the *o before it was lowered to *a, or it could have been influenced by the Latin collum.

Or the "neck" words of Baltic, Latin, and Germanic may not belong to this root at all and be from a root with *k-, such as *kelH-: "to rise, to be tall".

Κύκλωψ Kúklōps: "cyclops" can be understood as "round eye", but this may be modification of folk etymology of *péḱu-klṓps: "cattle-thief", after Greek stopped using the word *péḱu. If so, the reinterpretation of the word may have led to a re-envisioning of the creature.

None

There are three Chinese words related to wheels and vehicles that sound vaguely like *kʷelh₁- or *kʷékʷlh₁os:

車 *kʰlja/*kla: "chariot, cart"

轂 *kloːɡ: "hub, wheel, chariot"

軲轆 gu lu(k): "wheel"

There's a good chance at least one of these is from Indo-European, since chariots arrived in China from the west across the steppe and through the Jade Gate.

車 is a great example of a hanzi where you can still see the ancient pictographic origin. It's a top down view of a chariot with the an axle and wheels to the top and bottom. (Note: 車 appears as a semantic component of the hanzi 轂 and both of the hanzi in 軲轆).

On the other hand, there are also similar sounding words with more general circular meanings that are less likely to be from Indo-European, and also provide an alternate origin for the ones above:

回 *ɡuːl: "to turn around, to repeat, to refuse"

歸 *klul: "to return, to come back to"

Tibetan also has འཁོར 'khor: "to turn around, to spin, to gather, circle, wheel, cycle" and འཁོར་ལོ 'khor lo: "wheel, vehicle, chariot, machine", which adds support to a native Sino-Tibetan origin of some of them, especially, 軲轆 gu lu(k): "wheel".

Scots hausebane: "collar bone" (note that it's cognate to Latinate collar), as in "Ye’ll sit on his white hause-bane,/And I’ll pike out his bonny blue een./Wi’ ae lock o’ his gowden hair,/We’ll theek our nest when it grows bare."

*klh₁eyp-? is a plausible root for at least two words of unknown origin connected to bread: Germanic *hlaibaz: "loaf" and Classical Greek krī́banos/klī́banos: "bread pan, bread oven". The East Baltic words (represented by Lithuanian kliẽpas: "loaf of bread") may be a third, or may represent an early borrowing from Germanic, like the later Slavic borrowing.

Germanic *hlaibaz (loaf) is thought to have originally meant flatbread, in constrast to *braudã (bread), which is connected to brew and would have meant "leavened bread". Assuming this is correct, the semantic connection to kʷel- is the wheel-like shape of most flatbread.

On the other hand, the phonology is shaky and Classical Greek words that vary between l and r tend to be borrowings from non-IE sources. Often because the Minoan language appears not to have had an l/r distinction, and/or because some but not all Ancient Egyptian dialects in which l merged into r. So these words could also be borrowed from one or more unknown languages. (compare "lion")

AidanEM

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