The word yellow is from the Old English geolu, geolwe (oblique case), meaning "yellow, and yellowish", derived from the Proto-Germanic word gelwaz "yellow". It has the same Indo-European base, gel-, as the words gold and yell; gʰel- means both bright and gleaming, and to cry out.[10]
The English term is related to other Germanic words for yellow, namely Scots yella, East Frisian jeel, West Frisian giel, Dutch geel, German gelb, and Swedish and Norwegian gul.[11] According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the oldest known use of this word in English is from The Epinal Glossary in 700.[12]
The word yellow is from the Old English geolu, geolwe (oblique case), meaning "yellow, and yellowish", derived from the Proto-Germanic word gelwaz "yellow". It has the same Indo-European base, gel-, as the words gold and yell; gʰel- means both bright and gleaming, and to cry out.[10]
The English term is related to other Germanic words for yellow, namely Scots yella, East Frisian jeel, West Frisian giel, Dutch geel, German gelb, and Swedish and Norwegian gul.[11] According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the oldest known use of this word in English is from The Epinal Glossary in 700.[12]
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