The Caland system is a set of rules in the reconstructed

Proto-Indo-European language Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Eu ...

which describes how certain words, typically

adjectives An adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that describes or defines a noun or noun phrase. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives are considered one of the main parts of speech of the English language, ...

, are derived from one another. It was named after Dutch Indologist

Willem Caland Willem Caland (August 27, 1859 – March 23, 1932) was a Dutch Indologist, philologist, numismatist, and translator. He studied in Leiden and graduated in 1882. In Indo-European studies, the Caland system is named after him. Biography Caland wa ...

(1859–1932), who first formulated part of the system. The

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

s derived from these roots in different daughter languages often do not agree in formation, but show certain characteristic properties: *Adjectives are formed using

zero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. Adding (or subtracting) 0 to any number leaves that number unchanged; in mathematical terminology, 0 is the additive identity of the integers, rational numbers, real numbers, and compl ...

ablaut In linguistics, the Indo-European ablaut ( , from German ) is a system of apophony (regular vowel variations) in the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE). An example of ablaut in English is the strong verb ''sing, sang, sung'' and its relate ...

''ro''-stems (i.e., word stems ending in '' *-rós''), '' u''-stems, or amphikinetic '' nt''-stems. *Adjectives are sometimes formed using '' i''-stems, especially in the first part of a compound. *Corresponding

stative verb In linguistics, a stative verb is a verb that describes a state of being, in contrast to a dynamic verb, which describes an action. The difference can be categorized by saying that stative verbs describe situations that are static, or unchangin ...

s in often exist.

Examples

Example 1

'light (in weight)': *''ro''-stems:

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''elaphrós'' 'light, quick';

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

''lungar'' 'fast' *''u''-stems: Ancient Greek ''elakhús'' 'small'; Sanskrit ''laghú-, raghú-'' 'quick, light, small';

Avestan Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...

''ragu-'' 'fast'; Latin ''levis'' 'light' < ; Lithuanian ''lengvùs'' 'light';

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...

''легъкъ (legŭkŭ)'' 'light'

Example 2

'white': *''ro''-stems: Ancient Greek ''argós'' < *''argrós'' 'white'; Sanskrit 'brilliant' *''u''-stems:

Tocharian B Tocharian B (also known as Kuchean or West Tocharian) was a Western member of the Tocharian branch of Indo-European languages, extinct from the ninth century. Once spoken in the Tarim Basin The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Xinjiang, N ...

''ārkwi'' 'white' *''i''-stems: Ancient Greek ''argi-kéraunos'' 'with bright lightning' *''nt''-stems: Old Irish ''argat'', Old Welsh ''argant'', Latin ''argentum''

Example 3

'red': *''ro''-stems: Ancient Greek ''eruthrós'' 'red'; Latin ''ruber'' 'red'; Tocharian B ''ratre'' 'red';

Old East Slavic Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian) was a language (or a group of dialects) used by the East Slavs from the 7th or 8th century to the 13th or 14th century, until it diverged into the Russian language, Russian and Ruthenian language ...

''родръ (rodrŭ)'' 'red' *''i''-stems:

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

''rudhiras'' (mixed with ''ro''-stem) *''-eh₁'' verbs:

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''rubeō'' 'be red', Old High German ''rōtēn'' 'shine red';

''ръдѣти сѧ (rŭděti sę)'' 'become red, be red'

Example 4

'high': *''ro''-stems: Tocharian B ''pärkare'' 'high' *''u''-stems: Hittite ''parku-'' 'high';

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

'high' < *''i''-stems: Avestan ''bǝrǝzi-'' 'high' in compounds *''nt''-stems: Sanskrit ''bṛhánt-'' 'high', Avestan ''bǝrǝzant-'' 'high', Germanic name ''Burgund-'', Irish name ''Brigit'', Tocharian A ''koṃ-pärkānt'' 'sunrise'

Example 5

'deep': *''ro''-stems: Tocharian B ''tapre'' 'high' < *''u''-stems: Lithuanian ''dubùs'' 'hollow'

References

{{Proto-Indo-European language Indo-European linguistics