Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/helm

This Proto-West Germanic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

From Proto-Germanic *helmaz.

*helm m

2. helmet

• *helmōn
• *hilmijan

From Proto-Germanic *helmaz, related to *halmaz (“haulm, straw, hay; stalk”) (whence *halm). The ablaut points to an older athematic paradigm in Proto-Indo-European, according to Kroonen probably *ḱélh₂m̥ ~ *ḱl̥h₂mós; compare Lithuanian kélmas (“tree trunk”).^[1] The o-grade in *halmaz and cognates such as Latin culmus, Proto-Slavic *sòlma and Latvian sal̃ms may have come either from an accusative stem *ḱolh₂-m- or by analogy with the thematic suffix *-(ó)-mos.^[2] In any case ultimately from the root *ḱelh₂- (“to prick, stab; straw, reed”).

*helm m

2. a reedy grass that dries as hollow stalks: bentgrass (genus Agrostis or Ammophila); sedge
3. Synonym of *halm (“stalk, haulm, straw”)

• *halm
• ^? *helmō, *halmō (“rudder, tiller; helm (of a boat)”)^[1][2]

• Old English: *helm
  • Middle English: helm
    • English: helm (“stalk, haulm; bentgrass”)
• Old Dutch: *helm
  • Middle Dutch: *helm
    • Dutch: helm
• Low German: helm (“sedge; marram grass”)
  • → Danish: hjælme
  • → Icelandic: hjálmur