An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/gelb

by Friedrich Kluge

gelb, adjective, ‘yellow,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gël, Old High German gëlo (genitive gëlwes); corresponding to Old Saxon gëlo, Dutch geel, Anglo-Saxon geolo, English yellow (Old Icelandic gulr). The common West Teutonic gelwa-, from pre-Teutonic ghelwo-, is primitively allied to Latin helvus, ‘greyish yellow’; the Aryan root ghel appears also in Greek χλω-ρός, χλᾶ-ρός, ‘green, yellow,’ χλόη, ‘green objects,’ Old Slovenian zelenŭ, ‘yellow, green,’ Lithuanian żálias, ‘green’ (żėlti, ‘to grow green’), Sanscrit hari, ‘yellowish.’ Akin also to Galle and Gold.