Proto-Indo-European Roots

Proto-Indo-European Roots

*Root/Stem:*	*kwel-

*Meanings:*	a wheel, round

*Cognates (32):*	Greek polos (a round axis) - remember kw becomes Greek p before o, a, u*
	Latin *colere* (to cultivate, move around), *bucolicus* (a cattleman) = *bou-* (a bull) + *col-*
	Common Celtic kol- (to move around), bowkolos* (a cattleman); > Old Irish *bochaill* (a herdsman), Irish & Scottish Gaelic *buachaill, Welsh bugail,* Cornish & Breton *bugel*
	Sanskrit *carati* (he moves, wanders)
	Avestan *c'axra* (a chariot, a wagon)
	Tocharian *kuka"l* (a wagon)
	Common Germanic hwel-, > Old Norse hvel* (a wheel), Old English *hweol, > English wheel, Swedish hjul*
	Common Baltic kel- (a wheel), > Old Prussian & Sudovian kelan* (a wheel; neut.), Lithuanian *kelias* (a road, a way)
	Common Slavic kolo (a wheel), > Ukrainian & Old Russian & Serbo-Croatian & Slovene & Czech & Slovak & Polish & Sorbian kolo, Lower Sorbian kolaso, Russian koleso* (a wheel)

Notes:	Via the Latin word *colere* (to cultivate land) this stem then gave the term *cultura* (culture) which exists in every European language. The traces of this stem in so many Indo-European branches not only shows its ancient origin, but also proves the fact that Proto-Indo-Europeans knew the wheel before the community broke up. Now we can check when the wheel was invented in Mesopotamia, and state that the breakup of the Indo-European community happened several centuries after this time.