Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/sulī

This Proto-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.

Proto-Germanic

Alternative forms

• *swalī

Etymology

From a pre-Germanic ablauting paradigm *swol- ~ *sul-, with full-grade *swalī found in Old High German swelli, swella (modern German Schwelle (“threshold; railroad tie”)), Old West Norse svalar, Old Swedish svali (modern dialectal Swedish svale, svala (“porch, canopy”)). Further uncertain:

• Traditionally, from Proto-Indo-European *swel-, *sel- (“piece of wood; beam, post, balk, board, threshold, sill”). Cognate with Lithuanian šelmuõ (“apex, roof, ridge”), Latin silva (“wood, forest”), Latin solum (“ground, floor, sole, bottom”).
• In view of the phonetic and paradigmatic irregularities, as well as the semantic category, likely of substrate origin along with *sauliz, *sūliz (“beam; post, pillar”), *siuwilō and Swedish syll (“railroad tie”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsu.liː/

Noun

*sulī f

1. balk, bar, threshold, sill

Inflection

ī/jō-stemDeclension of *sulī (ī/jō-stem)
	singular	plural
nominative	*sulī	*suljôz
vocative	*sulī	*suljôz
accusative	*suljǭ	*suljōz
genitive	*suljōz	*suljǫ̂
dative	*suljōi	*suljōmaz
instrumental	*suljō	*suljōmiz

Synonyms

• *stuþilaz

Derived terms

• *suljaną

Related terms

• *selmô
• *swalī/*swilī

Descendants

• Proto-West Germanic: *sul(l)i
  • Old English: syl, syll
    • Middle English: sylle, sülle, selle, sille
      • English: sill
      • Scots: sil, sill
    • → Latin: silla
  • Old Frisian: *selle
    • West Frisian: sille
  • Old Saxon: *sul, *sulli
    • Middle Low German: sul, sülle, sille
      • Low German: Sull, Sülle
  • Old Dutch: *sulla
    • Middle Dutch: sulle, sille
      • Dutch: zulle
• Old Norse: syll
  • Icelandic: syll, sylla
  • Faroese: syll
  • Norwegian: syll
  • Old Swedish: syl
    • Swedish: syll
  • Danish: syld