कल्

Sanskrit

Alternative scripts

কল্ (Assamese script)
ᬓᬮ᭄ (Balinese script)
কল্ (Bengali script)
𑰎𑰩𑰿 (Bhaiksuki script)
𑀓𑀮𑁆 (Brahmi script)
ကလ် (Burmese script)
કલ્ (Gujarati script)
ਕਲ੍ (Gurmukhi script)
𑌕𑌲𑍍 (Grantha script)
ꦏꦭ꧀ (Javanese script)
𑂍𑂪𑂹 (Kaithi script)
ಕಲ್ (Kannada script)
កល៑ (Khmer script)
ກລ຺ (Lao script)
കല് (Malayalam script)
ᡬᠠᠯ (Manchu script)
𑘎𑘩𑘿 (Modi script)
ᢉᠠᠯ (Mongolian script)
𑦮𑧉𑧠 (Nandinagari script)
𑐎𑐮𑑂 (Newa script)
କଲ୍ (Odia script)
ꢒꢭ꣄ (Saurashtra script)
𑆑𑆬𑇀 (Sharada script)
𑖎𑖩𑖿 (Siddham script)
කල් (Sinhalese script)
𑩜𑩽 𑪙 (Soyombo script)
𑚊𑚥𑚶 (Takri script)
கல் (Tamil script)
కల్ (Telugu script)
กลฺ (Thai script)
ཀ་ལ྄ (Tibetan script)
𑒏𑒪𑓂 (Tirhuta script)
𑨋𑨬𑨴 (Zanabazar Square script)

Pronunciation

(Vedic) IPA^(key): /kɐl/
(Classical Sanskrit) IPA^(key): /kɐl̪/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to drive”). Cognate with Latin celer (“fast”) whence English accelerate, and English hold.

Root

कल् • (kal)

to impel, incite, urge

Derived terms

कलन (kálana)
कलयति (kaláyati)
कालयति (kāláyati)
निष्कल् (niṣkal)

References

Monier Williams (1899) “कल्”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, […], new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 0260/1.
William Dwight Whitney, 1885, The Roots, Verb-forms, and Primary Derivatives of the Sanskrit Language, Leipzig: Breitkopf and Härtel, page 017
Otto Böhtlingk, Richard Schmidt (1879-1928) “कल्”, in Walter Slaje, Jürgen Hanneder, Paul Molitor, Jörg Ritter, editors, Nachtragswörterbuch des Sanskrit [Dictionary of Sanskrit with supplements] (in German), Halle-Wittenberg: Martin-Luther-Universität, published 2016
Mayrhofer, Manfred (1956) Kurzgefasstes Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen [A Concise Etymological Sanskrit Dictionary]‎^[1] (in German), volume 1, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 179

Pokorny, Julius (1959) “548”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 548
Mallory, J. P. with Adams, D. Q. (2006) The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World (Oxford Linguistics), New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 405

Etymology 2

Of uncertain origin.

Monier-Williams compares the root to Latin calculō (“to calculate”), while Mayrhofer makes no mention of this particular meaning and thus implicitly equates it with Etymology 1.

However, Turner separates this "sound, count" meaning from the above "impel, incite" meaning and derives the former from Dravidian; compare Tamil கல் (kal, “to learn, study”).

Root

कल् • (kal)

to sound, count

Derived terms

कलते (kalate)

References

Monier Williams (1899) “कल्”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, […], new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 0260/1.
Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985) “kaláyati”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press