Etymograph

English

gelbstoff

Gelbstoff comes from German Gelbstoff ‘a yellow pigment, especially a xanthophyll’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃wós.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰelh₃wós‘yellow’root as named · steps between not traced
  2. Germanc. 1650–presentgelb‘amber, yellow’
  3. German, derivedc. 1650–presentGelbstoff‘a yellow pigment, especially a xanthophyll’literally ‘yellow substance’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1966gelbstoff

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰelh₃wós‘yellow’root as named · steps between not traced
  2. Germanc. 1650–presentgelb‘amber, yellow’
  3. German, derivedc. 1650–presentGelbstoff‘a yellow pigment, especially a xanthophyll’literally ‘yellow substance’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1966gelbstoff

Earliest quotation: 1966, K. Kalle, The Problem of the Gelbstoff in the Sea: “The problem of the Gelbstoff in the sea”.

A compound of *ǵʰelh₃- ‘green, yellow’ + *-wós ‘suffix forming adjectives from verb stems’ + Stoff ‘matter, stuff, substance’

Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp- ‘to push, to stick’

Proto-Germanic *stuppōną ‘to stop, close’

Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn ‘to stop, halt’

Old High German stopfōn

Old French estoffer ‘to provide what is necessary, equip, stuff’

Old French estophe

Middle Dutch stoffe

Dutch stof ‘substance in general, matter, material’

German Stoff ‘matter, stuff, substance’

The story

Borrowed from German Gelbstoff (literally “yellow substance”) (coined by K. Kalle in a 1966 article: see the quotation), from German gelb (‘amber, yellow’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃wós (‘yellow’), from *ǵʰelh₃- (‘green, yellow’) + *-wós (‘suffix forming adjectives from verb stems’)) + German Stoff (‘matter, stuff, substance’) (from Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn (‘to close; to fill, stop up’), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tew- (‘to hit; to push’)).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃wós ‘yellow’

yellow, 1 more

Today it means

noun The optically measurable component of dissolved organic matter in water, which primarily occurs naturally from tannin released from decaying detritus. As the amount of organic matter increases, it causes the water to appear green, yellow-green, and then brown.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃wós / gelbstoff

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