h₂el-
“to nourish, to grow”grow, nourish, raise
Root for nourishing/growing, yielding Latin alere (to nourish), English old, elder, altitude.
Discussion
The Proto-Indo-European root *h₂el- meant "to nourish" or "to grow," encoding the deep connection between feeding and flourishing. Latin alere, "to nourish," is the central reflex: altus, originally "grown, tall," gave English altitude and exalt; alimentum gave alimentary. The compound alma māter, "nourishing mother," was first an epithet of goddesses before universities claimed it. The inchoative adolēscere, "to begin growing," produced both adolescent (one who is growing) and adult (one who has finished growing, from adultus), making these two English words siblings distinguished only by aspect. Perhaps most surprising is proletarian: the Roman prōlētārius was a citizen whose only contribution to the state was his prōlēs, "offspring," built from *pro- and *h₂el-, literally "that which grows forth." The Germanic branch took its own path. English old descends from Proto-Germanic *alþaz, a past participial form meaning "grown" — the old are simply those who have grown. This makes old and adult etymological cousins through different daughter languages. Similarly, English world contains *wer- ("man") compounded with *alđi ("age, grown time"), from the same root. Watkins emphasizes how *h₂el- unified the biological and social dimensions of growth: the nourishment of a child, the height of a mountain, the maturity of an adult, and the venerability of the old all flow from a single Proto-Indo-European syllable that meant "to grow."
Notes
Pokorny 26-27. English old, elder, altitude, exalt, adult, alma mater.
Related Roots
English Words from *h₂el-
These modern English words descend from this root. Each page traces the full journey from PIE to present-day English.