Introduction

I met a baby Elowen last week. After initially wondering if it was another example of -wen, I found that it was actually the singulative suffix -en on Cornish elow: "elms"—the equivalent of Welsh llwyfen: "elm", llwyf: "elms".

*h₁elmos: "wych elm (Ulmus glabra)" shows up with identical meaning in all four of the Late Northwest branches (if slightly irregular phonology), plus an Albanian word with a slightly different meaning. It probably represents a LNW borrowing from an Eastern European substrate language, with a separate borrowing from a related source into Pre-Albanian.

Since the Albanian has the form of a diminutive, it looks like Pre-Albanian at some point had *ulma meaning "elm", made a diminutive *ulmzā to mean a similar tree, and then lost the original word.

Teaser

limousine, elm, Alamo

Full Text

• ? *VlmV? Eastern European substrate?

  • Pre-Albanian *ulma

    • Pre-Albanian *ulmzā diminutive

      • Albanian ulzë Tartar maple
  • Northwestern Indo-European *h₁élmos *h₁élm̥ *h₁l̥mós wych elm (Ulmus glabra)

    • Balto-Slavic *elemas

      • Slavic *jьlьmъ elm, wych elm

        • East Slavic илемъ ilemŭ

          • Russian ильм ilʹm elm, wych elm
        • South Slavic

          • Slovene lim elm
        • West Slavic

          • Czech jilm elm
    • Celtic *limos elm

      • Brythonic *lluɨβ̃ elms

        • Cornish elow elms
        • Welsh llwyf elms
        • Old English *līm

          • Middle English

            • English (Forest of) Lyme but not the River Lyme

              • English Lyme Park
              • English Newcastle-under-Lyme
          • Old English Aldelime

            • Middle English

              • English Audlem
          • Old English Bacardeslim

            • Middle English

              • English Burslem
        • Brythonic *lluɨβ̃en elm derived singulative

          • Cornish elowen elm

            • Cornish Elowen personal name: Elm

              • English Elowen
          • Welsh llwyfen elm
      • Old Irish lem

        • Old Irish lemán originally a diminutive, but later just a noun-forming suffix

          • Middle Irish

            • Irish leamhán elm tree
            • Manx lhiouan
            • Scottish Gaelic leamhan elm tree
      • Gaulish *lemos

        • Gaulish *Lēmouīcēs ethnonym: Elm Vanquishers? possibly referring to elm bows or spears

          • Latin Lemovices a Gaulish tribe

            • Latin civitas Lemovicum city of the Lemovices

              • Western Romance

                • Catalan Llemotges
                • French Limoges

                  • English Limoges
                • Occitan Limòtges
            • Latin lemovicinus of or related to the Lemovices

              • Western Romance

                • French limousin / limousine of Limoges

                  • English limousin cattle breed
                  • English limousine vehicle

                    • English limo
                    • Japanese リムジン rimujin limousine (vehicle)
                  • French limousinage
      • Gallaecian *lemo

        • Asturian llamera elm
    • Germanic *elmaz *almaz *ulmaz elm

      • East Germanic

        • Vandalic *alms

          • Spanish álamo white poplar, cottonwood

            • Spanish Álamo

              • English Alamo
            • Spanish alameda poplar grove, street lined with trees

              • Spanish Alameda

                • English Alameda
      • North Germanic

        • Old Norse almr elm

          • Old East Norse

            • Swedish alm elm
          • Old West Norse

            • Faroese álmur
            • Icelandic álmur elm
          • Old Norse elmi elms collective

            • Old East Norse

              • Danish elm
              • Swedish älme
      • West Germanic *elm *alm *ulm

        • Old English elm *ulm elm

          • Middle English elme / alme / ulme elm

            • English elm
          • Old English ulmtrēow elm-tree
        • Frankish

          • Middle Dutch olm / olme *alm

            • Dutch olm elm
        • Old High German elmo / ulm elm

          • Middle High German ulme

            • German Ulme
    • Italic *olmos

      • Latin ulmus elm

        • Old High German elmo / ulm elm

          • Middle High German ulme

            • German Ulme
        • Central Romance

          • Italian olmo elm, field elm (Ulmus minor)

            • Italian olmaria meadowsweet
        • Eastern Romance

          • Romanian ulm
        • Western Romance

          • Old French olme

            • Middle Dutch olm / olme *alm

              • Dutch olm elm
            • Middle French

              • French orme elm
          • Spanish olmo elm
        • Translingual Ulmus taxonomic genus of elm trees

          • Translingual Ulmus glabra taxonomic species of the wych elm
  • Laz მულა mula wych elm (Ulmus glabra) metathesis of the substrate?

Visual

Collected English words

(Forest of) Lyme, Lyme Park, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Audlem, Burslem, Elowen, Limoges, limousin, limousine, limo, Alamo, Alameda, elm, Ulmus, Ulmus glabra