Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂elut-
Proto-Indo-European
Reconstruction
Reflex of initial laryngeal can be seen in Finnish kalja (from earlier *kaleja or *kaleta).
Etymology
According to some the original meaning was "a bitter drink" and is related to Latin alūmen (“alum”) and Ancient Greek ἀλύδοιμος (alúdoimos, “bitter, pungent”).[1]
Another theory is that it is connected to Proto-Norse ᚨᛚᚢ (alu, “something magical”), and related to Latvian aluot (“be distraught”), Ancient Greek ἀλύω (alúō, “to be distraught”) and Hittite [script needed] (alwanzaḫḫ-, “to bewitch, hex”).[2] EIEC explains the semantic connection as: The notion would be that beer induced a "high" wherein the drinker was infused with a sort of magical power.
The most recent theory is that it is related to Sanskrit अरुष (aruṣá, “reddish”) and Avestan 𐬀𐬎𐬭𐬎𐬱𐬀 (auruša, “bright, white”), from which Proto-Indo-Iranian *Harušás can be reconstructed from the two languages.[3]
Inflection
This noun needs an inflection-table template.
Descendants
References
- Kroonen, Guus (2013), “*aluþ-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, pages 23–4
- Mallory, J. P.; Adams, D. Q., editors (1997) Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture, London, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, page 60
- Martirosyan, Hrach (2010), “awɫi”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 8), Leiden, Boston: Brill, pages 29, 154
- Abajev, V. I. (1958), “ælūton | ilæton, aluton”, in Istoriko-etimologičeskij slovarʹ osetinskovo jazyka [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Ossetian Language] (in Russian), volume I, Moscow, Leningrad: USSR Academy of Sciences, page 129
- Notes
- Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume I, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, pages 33–4
- Edgar C. Polomé, “Beer, Runes and Magic”, Journal of Indo-European Studies 24 (1996): 99–105.
- Harald Bjorvand, “The Etymology of English ale”, Journal of Indo-European Studies 35 (2007): 1–8.