| 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: | bhel-2 |
| DEFINITION: | To blow, swell; with derivatives referring to various round objects and to the notion of tumescent masculinity.
Derivatives include boulevard, boulder, phallus, balloon, ballot, and fool.
1. Zero-grade form bh -. a. bowl1, from Old English bolla, pot, bowl; b. bole, from Old Norse bolr, tree trunk; c. bulk, from Old Norse bulki, cargo (< “rolled-up load”); d. rocambole, from Old High German bolla, ball; e. boulevard, bulwark, from Middle High German bole, beam, plank; f. boll, from Middle Dutch bolle, round object; g. biltong, from Middle Dutch bille, buttock; h. boulder, from a Scandinavian source akin to Swedish bullersten, “rounded stone,” boulder, from *buller-, “round object.” a–h all from Germanic *bul-. 2. Suffixed zero-grade form *bh-n-. a. bull1, from Old Norse boli, bull, from Germanic *bull n-; b. bullock, from Old English bulluc, bull, from Germanic *bulluka-; c. phallus; ithyphallic, from Greek phallos, phallus; d. possibly Latin full, a fuller: full2. 3. O-grade form *bhol-. a. bollix, from Old English beallucas, testicles; b. ball1, from Old English *beall, ball; c. bilberry, probably from a Scandinavian source akin to Danish bolle, round roll; d. balloon, ballot, ballottement, from Italian dialectal balla, ball; e. pall-mall, from Italian palla, ball; f. bale1, from Old French bale, rolled-up bundle. a–f all from Germanic *ball-. 4. Possibly suffixed o-grade form *bhol-to-. a. bold, from Old English bald, beald, bold; b. bawd, from Old Saxon bald, bold; c. Balder, from Old Norse ballr, baldr, brave. a–c from Germanic *balthaz, bold. 5. Suffixed o-grade form *bhol-n-. fils2, follicle, folly, fool, from Latin follis, bellows, inflated ball. 6. Possibly Greek phal(l)aina, whale: baleen. 7. Conceivably from this root (but more likely unrelated) is Greek phellos, cork, cork oak: phellem; phelloderm, phellogen. (Pokorny 3. bhel- 120.) The following derivatives of this root are entered separately: bhel-3, bhelgh-, bhleu-. |
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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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