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. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...

which describes how certain words, typically

adjectives In linguistics, an adjective ( abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ma ...

, are derived from one another. It was named after Dutch Indologist Willem Caland (1859–1932), who first formulated part of the system. The

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

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. In place-value notation such as the Hindu–Arabic numeral system, 0 also serves as a placeholder numerical digit, which works by multiplying digits to the left of 0 by the radix, usu ...

ablaut In linguistics, the Indo-European ablaut (, from German '' Ablaut'' ) 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 i ...

''ro''-stems (i.e., word stems ending in '' *-ro''), '' u''-stems, or

amphikinetic Proto-Indo-European nominals include nouns, adjectives, and pronouns. Their grammatical forms and meanings have been reconstructed by modern linguists, based on similarities found across all Indo-European languages. This article discusses nouns a ...

'' nt''-stems. *Adjectives are sometimes formed using '' i''-stems, especially in the first part of a compound. *Corresponding stative verbs 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 ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

''elaphrós'' 'light, quick';

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...

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

Avestan Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scri ...

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

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Je ...

''lengvùs'' 'light';

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic literary language. Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with standardizing the language and using it in translating the Bible and other ...

''легъкъ (legŭkŭ)'' 'light'

Example 2

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

Tocharian B Kuchean (also known as Tocharian B or West Tocharian) was a Western member of Tocharian branch of Indo-European languages, extinct from ninth century. Once spoken in the Tarim Basin in Central Asia. Tocharian B shows an internal chronological de ...

''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; be, старажытнаруская мова; russian: древнерусский язык; uk, давньоруська мова) was a language used during the 9th–15th centuries by East ...

''родръ (rodrŭ)'' 'red' *''i''-stems:

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

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

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

''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 Hittite may refer to: * Hittites, ancient Anatolian people ** Hittite language, the earliest-attested Indo-European language ** Hittite grammar ** Hittite phonology ** Hittite cuneiform ** Hittite inscriptions ** Hittite laws ** Hittite religion * ...

''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 across 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