Etymograph

English

holmos

Holmos comes from Ancient Greek ὅλμος ‘round, smooth stone’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *welH- ‘to turn, wind’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*welH-1‘to turn, wind’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEὅλμος2hólmos‘round, smooth stone’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1873holmos2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek ὅλμος
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English holmos
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1873, Ercole G. Massi, Sculptures and Galleries in the Vatican Palace: “The large vase of a globular form standing in…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*welH-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek ὅλμος‘to turn, wind’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEὅλμοςWiktionary, English holmoshólmos‘round, smooth stone’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1873holmosWiktionary, English holmos. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1873, Ercole G. Massi, Sculptures and Galleries in the Vatican Palace: “The large vase of a globular form standing in…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *welH- ‘to turn, wind’

well, walk, wall, volume, revolution, evolution, valve, involve, vault, evolve, vulgar, revolt, waltz, helix, divulge, convoluted, vagrant, vulva, wale, voluminous, gauche, vulgate, iliac, convolution, ilium, valvular, valise, involution, voluble, 74 more

Today it means

noun An Ancient Greek or Etruscan vase with a rounded body, especially a closed vessel of nearly spherical form on a high stem or pedestal, or a drinking cup with a foot and stem.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “holmos”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Ancient Greek ὅλμος. 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 *welH- / holmos

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