On the Etymology of Lithuanian alėti, almuo, almė, elmės, etc. and Their Relationship to the German Place Name Ulm and Its Cognates

Abstract

Lith. alėti ‘to flow, to drizzle, to hurry’, nualėti ‘to inundate (fields), to flow over’, almuõ (3) m. ‘pus’, álmė (1), almė (4) f. ‘matter flowing out of a body’, elmės (4) f. Pl. ‘id.’ have been traditionally etymologized as deriving from a root meaning ‘to flow’. This article argues instead that these words originate from at least two distinct Proto-Indo-European (PIE) roots. On the one hand, they may be linked to PIE *h₁elh₂- ‘to drive somewhere’ or PIE *h₂elh₂- ‘to go around aimlessly, to wander around’. On the other hand, some of them appear to derive from PIE *h₁el(H)- ‘to be foul, rotten’.

The root PIE *h₁el(H)- ‘to be foul, rotten’ also underlies the place-name NHG Ulm and related toponyms in Germany. These names can be connected to PGerm. *ulma- ‘foul(ness), putrid(ity)’. Among the three prevailing explanations for these names, one can be ruled out entirely, while the remaining two others are semantically plausible — but only one of them also fits phonologically. The proposal to connect the names to the root PGerm. *u̯al(l)‑, *u̯ul‑ ‘to boil, to seethe’ is impossible. The alternative hypothesis — interpreting them as ‘Old European’ hydronyms, at first proposed by Hans Krahe — remains possible but requires revision. However, since a Germanic explanation free of semantic and phonological contradictions can be provided, it is methodologically preferable to the ‘Old European’ hypothesis.