helvus

Latin

FWOTD – 1 September 2013

From Proto-Italic *heliwos, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃-i-wó-s (“yellow, green”), from *ǵʰelh₃- (“green, yellow”) +‎ -i- +‎ *-wós. Cognate with Proto-Germanic *gelwaz (“yellow”), Lithuanian žel̃vas (“greenish”).

helvus (feminine helva, neuter helvum); first/second-declension adjective

honey-yellow
- 4 CE – c. 70 CE, Columella, De Re Rustica 3.2:
  Sunt et Helvolae, quās nōn nūllī variās appellant, neque purpureae neque nigrae, ab helvō, nisi fallor, colōre vocitātae.
  There are also the Helvolans, which some call variae. They are neither purple nor black; from their honey-yellow colour they get their name, if I'm not wrong.

	masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter
	singular			plural
nominative	helvus	helva	helvum	helvī	helvae	helva
genitive	helvī	helvae	helvī	helvōrum	helvārum	helvōrum
dative	helvō	helvae	helvō	helvīs
accusative	helvum	helvam	helvum	helvōs	helvās	helva
ablative	helvō	helvā	helvō	helvīs
vocative	helve	helva	helvum	helvī	helvae	helva

Colors in Latin · colōrēs (layout · text)
albus, candidus, subalbus, niveus, cēreus, marmoreus, eburneus, cānus, blancus (ML.)	glaucus, rāvus, pullus, cinereus, cinerāceus, plumbeus, grīseus (ML. or NL.)	niger, āter, piceus, furvus
ruber, rūbidus, rūfus, rubicundus, russus, rubrīcus, pūniceus, murrinus, mulleus; cocceus, coccīnus, badius	rutilus, armeniacus, aurantius, aurantiacus; fuscus, suffuscus, colōrius, cervīnus, spādīx, castaneus, aquilus, fulvus, brunneus (ML.)	flāvus, sufflāvus, flāvidus, fulvus, lūteus, gilvus, helvus, croceus, pallidus, blondinus (ML.)
galbus, galbinus, lūridus	viridis	prasinus
cȳaneus	caeruleus, azurīnus (ML.), caesius, blāvus (LL.)	glaucus; līvidus; venetus
violāceus, ianthinus, balaustīnus (NL.)	ostrīnus, amethystīnus	purpureus, ātropurpureus, roseus, rosāceus

“helvus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
helvus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 282