kelias

Lithuanian

Etymology

Cognate with Latvian ceļš (“road, way”). Not confidently explained.^[1]

Fraenkel: Related to Ancient Greek κέλευθος (kéleuthos, “path”) (English acolyte).
Smoczyński: From Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁- (“to move in a circle”), like Sanskrit चरति (carati, “to move”).^[2]
Derksen: From kélti (“to lift, transfer”), from Proto-Indo-European *kelH- (“to raise”). Cognate with, cel̃t (“to lift, transfer”).^[3]^[4]
? From Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“road, path track, way”), same ultimate source as Ancient Greek κέλευθος (kéleuthos), English acolyte.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Did *kel-/path exist in PIE or is this a later development?”)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈkʲæːlʲɛs]

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Noun

kẽlias m (plural keliaĩ) stress pattern 4

road
way

Declension

Declension of kẽlias

	singular (vienaskaita)	plural (daugiskaita)
nominative (vardininkas)	kẽlias	keliaĩ
genitive (kilmininkas)	kẽlio	kelių̃
dative (naudininkas)	kẽliui	keliáms
accusative (galininkas)	kẽlią	keliùs
instrumental (įnagininkas)	keliù	keliaĩs
locative (vietininkas)	kelyjè	keliuosè
vocative (šauksmininkas)	kelỹ	keliaĩ

Derived terms

kelionė

References

^ “kẽlis” in Hock et al., Altlitauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch 2.0 (online, 2020–); p. 546 in ALEW 1.1 (online, 2019).
^ Wojciech Smoczyński (2018) “kelias”, in Lithuanian Etymological Dictionary, Berlin, Germany: Peter Lang, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 271-2
^ Derksen, Rick (2015) “kelias”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Baltic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 13), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 235
^ “kelias”, in Lietuvių kalbos etimologinio žodyno duomenų bazė [Lithuanian etymological dictionary database], 2007–2012