English
callow
Callow comes from Middle English calwe ‘(adjective) bald’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gelH-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gelH-‘bald, bare’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kalwaz‘bald’next step skipped: Latin calvus
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kalureconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150calu‘without hair, bald, callow’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500calwe‘(adjective) bald’
- Englishearliest quotation 1567callow
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gelH-‘bald, bare’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kalwaz‘bald’next step skipped: Latin calvus
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kalureconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150calu‘without hair, bald, callow’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500calwe‘(adjective) bald’
- Englishearliest quotation 1567callow
Earliest quotation: 1567, Ovid, The Sixt Booke: “[…] Calais and Zetes had no beard upon their…”
The story
If not borrowed from Latin, Grimm’s law indicates that the Latin word is likely a false cognate, along with Persian کل (kal) and Sanskrit कुल्व (kulvá).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gelH- ‘bald, bare’
Another origin of callow
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱlH-eto-‘cold’uncertain
- Proto-Celticc. 1300–800 BCE*kaletos‘cruel’uncertain
- Old Irishc. 600–900calad‘shore, landing, port’
- Irishc. 1200–presentcaladh‘meadow by a riverbank’
- Englishtodaycallow
From Irish caladh (‘meadow by a riverbank’), from Old Irish calad (‘shore, landing, port’), probably a noun use of calad (“hard”, adjective), from Proto-Celtic *kaletos (‘cruel; hard; strong’), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlH-eto- (‘cold’) (in the sense of something frozen and thus hard), from an unclear root *ḱl(H)- or *kl(H)- (‘hard’); or related to Proto-Germanic *halluz (‘boulder, rock, stone’), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kel- (‘to cut, hew’).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. Perhaps influenced by Etymology 1 in some manner.
Today it means
adj Immature, inexperienced, or naive.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gelH- / callow