| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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Appendix I
Indo-European Roots |
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| ENTRY: | gwel - |
| DEFINITION: | Also gwel-. To throw, reach, with further meaning to pierce. Oldest form *gwel1-, with metathesized variant *gwle1-, contracted to *gwl -.
Derivatives include devil, emblem, metabolism, parliament, problem, symbol, ballet, and kill1.
I. Words denoting to throw, reach. Variant *gwl-, contracted from *gwle-. 1. Suffixed zero-grade form *gw -n--. a. ballista; amphibole, arbalest, astrobleme, bolide, devil, diabolic, embolism, emboly, epiboly, hyperbola, hyperbole, metabolism, palaver, parable, parabola, parley, parliament, parlor, parol, parole, problem, symbol, from Greek ballein, to throw (with o-grade *bol- and variant *bl-); b. ball2, ballad, ballet, bayadere, from Greek ballizein, to dance. 2. Suffixed o-grade form *gwol()- -. bolometer, from Greek bol, beam, ray. 3. Possible suffixed o-grade form *gwol()-s-. boule1, abulia, from Greek boul, determination, will (< “throwing forward of the mind”), council. 4. Suffixed full-grade form *gwel-mno-. belemnite, from Greek belemnon, dart, javelin.
II. Words denoting to pierce. 1. Suffixed o-grade form *gwol-eyo-. a. quell, from Old English cwellan, to kill, destroy; b. quail2, from Middle Dutch quelen, to be ill, suffer. Both a and b from Germanic *kwaljan. 2. Suffixed zero-grade form *gw-yo-. kill1, from Middle English killen, to kill, perhaps from Old English *cyllan, to kill, from Germanic *kuljan. 3. Full-grade form *gwel-. belonephobia, from Greek belon, needle. (Pokorny 2. g el- 471, 1. gel- 470.) |
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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