*h₂él-/h₂l-´

The root verb of the mi-conjugation in Lycian xal-^(ti) ‘to take control of’ (< *h₂él-/h₂l-´) stands beside the original root verb of the ḫi-conjugation in Hitt. ḫalāi-/-i(ya)-^(ḫi) ‘to set in motion’ (<< *h₂ól-/h₂l-´). For the shape of the reconstructed root *h₂el- ‘to set in motion, control’, see Puhvel (HED H:12) and Kloekhorst (EDHIL:271), Serangeli 2015b:168. However, pace Serangeli (ibid.), the Indo-European root of ‘nourishment’ is more likely to be reconstructed as *al- with an a-vowel in the root, if one considers other Anatolian words such as Luw. alattar/n- ‘fruits (?)’ and Lyc. B al(i)- ‘(something pertaining to nourishment)’. Therefore, the two roots should not be unified so readily. For the Proto-Anatolian reconstructed denominative verb, see *h₂ol-éh₂-i̯e/o-.

See also the PAnat. reconstructed noun *h₂el-i- ‘enclosure’ based on Lycian and Hittite.

See also Luw. /halli(ya)-/ n. ‘day’ < *h₂él-ii̯o- and HLuw. /hilan-/ n. ‘courtyard’ < *h₂ēl-en- n. (cognate to Hitt. ḫīla- ‘courtyard, halo’ < *h₂ēl-o- or *-eh₂-; cf. Rieken 1999a:248f., but the comparison with Lyc. qla- c. is outdated, EDHIL:342f.). The underlying root in these nouns is normally separated from ḫal- ‘to set in motion’ on grounds of semantics, although they can easily be unified via the notions of ‘motion’ and ‘control’. See also Serangeli 2015b for an attempt to unify the various semantics.

For potential verbal cognates in Luwian, see ḫalanza- and ḫālā(i)-^(di).

[D.S.]

It is difficult to ascertain if all the formations listed in the table above belong to just one root *h₂el-, or whether we are dealing with (two, three, four?) separate but homophonous roots. In addition, there is another root commonly reconstructed as *h₂el- (e.g., LIV²:262) that means ‘to nourish, rear’ (as in Latin alō, -ere ‘id.’); here, however, the underlying root might in fact be *h₁al- (see Luw. alattar/n- ‘fruits (?)’ and Lyc. B al(i)- ‘(something pertaining to nourishment)’).

The Hittite and Lycian verbs that mean (1) ‘to set in motion’ and (2) ‘to take control of’, respectively, are difficult to reconcile under one basic meaning. The first meaning is reminiscent of the root posited as *h₂elh₂- ‘walk aimlessly’ (LIV²:264 “ziellos gehen”) on the basis of Ancient Greek ἀλάομαι ‘wander, roam; be outcast, banished’, Latin amb-ulō, -āre ‘to walk (around), travel’, Umbrian amb-oltu ‘shall go around’, Latvian aluôt ‘to wander, roam about’. While these verbs could in theory be based on an aniṭ root *h₂el- (sc. as denominal verbs; cf. Gk. ἄλη f. ‘wandering, roaming’ Od.+), the adjective Latin alacer, -cris, -cre ‘lively, quick, active, glad’ (provided it belongs here) is more easily explained via a seṭ *h₂elh₂-. The meaning ‘walk aimlessly’ may have derived from an earlier ‘set in motion’ (as preserved in Hittite), which might in turn underlie the Indic and Germanic words for ‘awl’ and ‘goad, prod’ (from ‘(sharp) instrument to set animals in motion’).

The meaning (2) ‘to take control of’, seen in Luwian, may be linked to Tocharian B āl^(ā)- ‘be restrained (itr.); keep away, hold in check (tr.)’, Tocharian A āl^(ā)?- ‘keep away, hold in check (tr.)’. This verb is taken from a root *h₂leu̯- (cf. Greek ἀλέομαι ‘avoid, shun’), but it’s difficult to explain the apparent loss of *u̯ (see Malzahn 2010a:530f.); it might therefore be preferable to start from *h₂el- and either separate the Greek verb from Luwian and Tocharian, or see in it the remnant of an enlarged formation (former u-present?). The meanings ‘to take control of’ and ‘to keep away, hold in check’ could be unified as metaphorical readings of a proto-meaning ‘to enclose’ (thus Hilmarsson 1991a:167f.), which could then be connected with the formations subsumed under (3) and (4) in the table, viz. Hitt. ḫīla- ‘courtyard, halo’, Hieroglyphic Luwian /hilan-/ n. ‘gate, palace’, /hilamm(a)-/ n. ‘court(yard) (?)’, Greek ἄλσος n. ‘(sacred) grove; any hallowed precinct’ (Il.+), Ἄλτις f. ‘sacred precinct of Zeus at Olympia’ (Pi., X.), ἄλμα n. (= ἄλσος; Lyc.), ἦλος ‘a place where nothing grows’ (i.e., ‘a stoned courtyard’?), and Hitt. ḫāli- n. ‘pen (for cattle)’, Palaic ḫali- c. ‘pen (?)’, Lycian A xal(i)- c. ‘enclosure, precinct’, perhaps to be compared with Proto-Celtic *alamo- (Old Irish alam n. (?) ‘herd, flock’; Welsh alaf ‘herd (of cattle or horses), wealth, property’).

The last meaning, viz. Luw. /halli(ya)-/ n. ‘day’, Hittite ḫāli- n. ‘night watch’ from *‘period (of time)’ or *‘time (measure)’ (?), may be related to either ‘set in motion’ or ‘control, enclose’, though the latter is perhaps more likely.

If one is reluctant to accept two roots *h₂el(h₂)- ‘set in motion’ and *h₂el- ‘enclose, control’, one may also try to account for Hitt. ḫalāi-/-i(ya)-^(ḫi), ḫalā(i)-^(mi) ‘to set in motion’ by way of some Hittite-internal semantic shift and assign the verbs (together with their formal cousins in Lycian) to *h₂el- ‘enclose; control’. The words for ‘wander, roam’ on the one hand and ‘awl, prod’ on the other, would then have to be kept apart.

[S.H.]

(1) Hitt. ḫalāi-/-i(ya)-^(ḫi) ‘to set in motion’, Hitt. ḫalā(i)-^(mi) ‘to set in motion’;

(2) Lyc. xal-^(ti) ‘to take control of’; Lyc. xla(i)-^(di) ‘to take control of, to prevail’;

(3) Hitt. ḫīla- ‘courtyard, halo’, Hieroglyphic Luwian /hilan-/ n. ‘gate, palace’, /hilamm(a)-/ n. ‘court(yard) (?)’;

(4) Hitt. ḫāli- n. ‘pen (for cattle)’, Pal. ḫali- c. ‘pen (?)’, Lyc. A xal(i)- c. ‘enclosure, precinct’;

(5) Luw. /halli(ya)-/ n. ‘day’, Hittite ḫāli- n. ‘night watch’.See above and EDHIL:271 s.v. ḫalai-ⁱ / ḫali-^?, 272f. s.v. ḫāli-.

ad (1) (?) Vedic ā́rā- f. ‘goad; a shoemaker’s awl; probe’ (RV+), Pañjābī ār ‘goad, prod’ (cf. the early loanwords Finnish ora ‘thorn, awl’, Hungarian ár ‘awl’).Cf., e.g., EWAia I:173 s.v. ā́rā-.

ad (1) (?) Ancient Greek ἀλάομαι ‘wander, roam; be outcast, banished’, aor. ἀλήθην (ep., poet.), perf. (with prs. sem.) ἀλάλησθαι, part. ἀλαλήμενος ‘wander, roam about’;

ad (2) (?) ἀλέομαι ‘avoid, shun’.

ad (3), (4) (?) ἄλσος n. ‘(sacred) grove; any hallowed precinct’ (Il.+), Ἄλτις f. ‘sacred precinct of Zeus at Olympia’ (Pi., X.), ἄλμα n. (= ἄλσος; Lyc.), ἦλος ‘a place where nothing grows’ (Hsch. η 388 Latte-Cunningham; “τόπος οὕτω καλούμενος, ἐν ᾧ οὐδὲν φύεται”).Cf., e.g., GEW I:63f. s.v. ἀλάομαι, I:66 s.v. ἀλέα, I:79 s.v. ἄλσος.

ad (1) (?) amb-ulō, -āre ‘to walk (around), travel’, Umbrian amb-oltu ‘shall go around’.

ad (1) (?) Latin alacer, -cris, -cre ‘lively, quick, active, glad’.Cf., e.g., EDLIL:38 s.v. ambulō.

ad (4) (?) Proto-Celtic *alamo- (Old Irish alam n. (?) ‘herd, flock’; Welsh alaf ‘herd (of cattle or horses), wealth, property’).Cf., e.g., EDPC:29 s.v. *alamo-.

ad (1) (?) Proto-Germanic *alaz ‘awl’ (Old Norse alr m., Icelandic alur), *ēlō- f. ‘awl’ (Old English ǣl, English awl, Old High German āla, German Ahle), *alasnō- f. ‘awl’ (Middle Dutch alsene, elsen(e), els(e), Dutch els, Old High German alansa, alunsa).Cf., e.g., EDPG:19 s.v. *ala(n)-, 117 s.v. *ēlō-, 20 s.v. *alasnō-.

ad (2) (?) Tocharian B āl^(ā)- ‘be restrained (itr.)’ (Ger. I ololle ‘to be restrained’), ‘keep away, hold in check (tr.)’ (prs. (IXb) ā̆lastär, subj. (I) 3pl. mid. ālyintär), Tocharian A āl^(ā)?- ‘keep away, hold in check (tr.)’ (prs. (VIII) āläṣtār, āläṣtär, 3pl. ālsantär).Cf., e.g., Adams 1999a s.v. āl-, Malzahn 2010a:530f.

ad (1) (?) Latvian aluôt ‘to wander, roam about’.Cf., e.g., IEW:27f.