*kalbaz^¹

Runic: ᚲᚨᛚᛒᚨᛉ Pronunciation: /ˈkɑl.βɑz/

noun · neuter · z-stem

Meanings

calf (young cow)

Etymology

Unknown. The connection with Proto-Indo-European *gʷelbʰ- (‘womb’) is problematic due to the missing labiovelar in Germanic. However, *gʷl̥bʰus- or the weak stem of *gʷélbʰ-us ~ *gʷl̥bʰ-éws would yield *kulbuz-, from which the variant *kelbuz-, also attested in Germanic, could have been derived analogically as a strong stem, whose influence might explain the missing labialization in *kalbiz-.

Pokorny connects it to Latin galba (‘little worm, larva; small person or animal’), itself perhaps of Gaulish origin, and proposes Proto-Indo-European *gel (e)b⁽ʰ⁾- as a labial extension of *gel- (‘form into a ball; ball’); compare Old English clyppan (‘to hug, embrace; to clasp’) (modern English clasp), German Klafter (‘armful, fathom’), Latvian glābt (‘to save’), and Latin glaeba (‘clod’), globus (‘round object’). However, such irregular correspondences between *kalbaz and galba would more likely point to substrate origin.

Has been compared to Mingrelian ქაბლა (kabla), itself of uncertain origin.

Declension

Case	Singular	Plural
Nom.	kalbaz	kalbizō
Acc.	kalbaz	kalbizō
Gen.	kalbiziz	kalbizǫ̂
Dat.	kalbizi	kalbizumaz
Inst.	kalbizē	kalbizumiz
Voc.	kalbaz	kalbizō

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Descendants

*kalb (Proto-West Germanic)
- calf (Old Dutch)
  - calf (Middle Dutch)
    - kalf (Dutch)
    - kalf (Limburgish)
*kalb (Proto-West Germanic)
- ċealf, cælf (Old English)
  - calf, chelve, chalf, kelf (Middle English)
    - calf (English)
    - calf, cawf, caff, cauf (Scots)
    - callef (Yola)
*kalb (Proto-West Germanic)
- *kalf, *kālch, *kāl (Old Frisian)
  - ? (North Frisian)
  - Koolich (Saterland Frisian)
  - keal (West Frisian)
*kalb (Proto-West Germanic)
- kalb, chalb, chalp (Old High German)
  - kalp (Middle High German)
    - Chalp (Alemannic German)
    - Kallev (Central Franconian)
    - khalp, khalbe (Cimbrian)
    - Kalb (German)
    - Kallef (Luxembourgish)
    - kołb, kołp (Vilamovian)
    - קאַלב (kalb) (Yiddish)
*kalb (Proto-West Germanic)
- kalf (Old Saxon)
  - kalf (Middle Low German)
    - Kalv, Kalf (Low German)
    - Kaulf (Plautdietsch)
kalfr (Old Norse)
- kalv (Danish)
- kåv (Elfdalian)
- kálvur (Faroese)
- kalv (Gutnish)
- kálfur (Icelandic)
- kvålv (Norn)
- kalv (Norwegian Bokmål)
- kalv, kæłv, kålv’e, kåv’e (Norwegian Nynorsk)
kalfr (Old Norse)
- kalver (Old Swedish)
  - kalv (Swedish)
*kālpē (Proto-Samic)

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