Etymograph

English

sol

Sol comes from Middle English sol ‘fifth degree or note of Guido of Arezzo's…’, from Latin solvō ‘wash away’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- ‘to cut off, release’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lewh₁-1‘to cut off, release’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*luh₁éti1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEluō1‘to untie, set free, separate’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsolvō2as solve‘wash away’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sol2‘fifth degree or note of Guido of Arezzo's hexachordal scales’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1592sol2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin solvo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English sol
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew: “D ſol re, one Cliffe, two notes haue I,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lewh₁-Wiktionary, Latin solvo‘to cut off, release’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*luh₁étiWiktionary, Latin solvoreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEluōWiktionary, Latin solvo‘to untie, set free, separate’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsolvōWiktionary, English solas solve‘wash away’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500solWiktionary, English sol‘fifth degree or note of Guido of Arezzo's hexachordal scales’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1592solWiktionary, English sol. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew: “D ſol re, one Cliffe, two notes haue I,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- ‘to cut off, release’

lose, analysis, lease, analyst, paralysis, dialysis, palsy, paralyze, paralytic, lysis, insoluble, loess, 25 more

through Latin luō ‘to untie, set free, separate’

resolution, resolve, dissolution, absolution, 9 more

through Latin solvō ‘wash away’

solution, solve, resolute, 11 more

through Middle English sol ‘fifth degree or note of Guido of Arezzo's…’

so, sole, 1 more

Another origin of sol

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*solh₂-‘integrate, whole’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*solh₂-i-dʰ-o-s‘entire’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*soliðosreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsolidus‘Roman gold coin’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsolidum‘solid’accusative singular of solidus
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400sol‘French coin’
  7. Englishtodaysol

Another origin of sol

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sóh₂wl̥‘sun’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsōl‘sun’
  3. Spanishc. 1500–presentsol‘sun’
  4. Englishtodaysol

Another origin of sol

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsōl‘sun’
  2. Englishtodaysol

Today it means

noun In a movable-do or tonic sol-fa system: the fifth step in a scale, preceded by fa and followed by la.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sol”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin solvo. 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 *lewh₁- / sol

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