Etymograph

English

helm

Helm comes from Middle English helm ‘tiller of a ship’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *helmô ‘handle’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*helmô‘handle’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150helma‘helm, tiller’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500helm‘tiller of a ship’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1563same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*helmô‘handle’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150helma‘helm, tiller’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500helm‘tiller of a ship’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1563same form

Earliest quotation: 1563, John Lambert: “Ye this is both helme & stern of al…”

The story

The noun is derived from Middle English helm, helme (‘tiller of a ship’), from Old English helma (‘helm, tiller’), from Proto-Germanic *helmô (‘handle; helm, tiller’), either from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (‘to cover’) or from the same source as haulm and helm (‘bentgrass, straw’) (see below), Proto-Indo-European *ḱélh₂-m(on)- (‘reed, hollow stalk’), one form of which then developed a specialized meaning “handle” in Germanic.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- ‘to cover’

color, hall, hole, cell, hell, holder, ceiling, hull, hollow, halt, holden, conceal, uphold, occult, clandestine, sari, sala, cilia, recline, declination, declension, tricolour, holing, haugh, seel, hele, 38 more

through Proto-Germanic *helmô ‘handle’

halberd

Another origin of helm

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱel-‘to cover’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱelmosuncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*helmaz‘protective covering’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*helmreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150helm‘helmet’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘helmet’
  7. Englishtodaysame form

Another origin of helm

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱelh₂-‘to prick, stab, stick’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*helmaz‘helmet’uncertain
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150healm‘stalk of a grass or plant’uncertain
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘straw, stubble’
  5. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500halm‘the stalks remaining after cultivation’uncertain
  6. Englishtodayhelm

The verb is either derived from the noun, or is possibly a variant of yelm.

Today it means

noun The tiller (or, in a large ship, the wheel) which is used to steer the rudder of a marine vessel; also, the entire steering apparatus of a vessel.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *helmô / helm

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