Etymograph

English

haline

Haline comes from Ancient Greek ἅλς ‘salt’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sḗh₂l.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sḗh₂l1‘salt’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*hā́ls1‘salt’reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἅλς2háls‘salt’
  4. Englishtodayhaline2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek ἅλς
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English haline

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sḗh₂lWiktionary, Ancient Greek ἅλς‘salt’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*hā́lsWiktionary, Ancient Greek ἅλς‘salt’reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἅλςWiktionary, English halineháls‘salt’
  4. EnglishtodayhalineWiktionary, English haline

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *sḗh₂l ‘salt’

salt, sauce, salary, salad, sausage, cellar, salsa, sal, salami, saline, salina, 30 more

through Ancient Greek ἅλς ‘salt’

halogen, 11 more

Today it means

adj salty; saline

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “haline”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Ancient Greek ἅλς. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *sḗh₂l / haline

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