An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Kalb

by Friedrich Kluge

Kalb, neuter, ‘calf,’ from the equivalent Middle High German kalp (b), Old High German chalb (plural chalbir), neuter; compare Anglo-Saxon cealf, English calf, Dutch kalf, Old Icelandic kalfr, masculine; Gothic has only a feminine kalbô (Old High German chalba, Middle High German kalbe), ‘heifer over a year old that has not calved.’ Middle High German kilbere, feminine, Old High German chilburra, feminine, ‘ewe lamb,’ is in a different stage of gradation; compare Anglo-Saxon cilforlamb, ‘ewe lamb,’ and Modern High German dialectic Kilber (Swiss), ‘young ram,’ (English dialectic chilver). In the non-Teutonic languages there is a series of words with the phonetic base glbh-, denoting ‘the young of animals.’ Compare Sanscrit gárbha, ‘covey,’ also ‘child, offspring’; in the sense of ‘mother's lap’ the Indian word suggests Greek δελφύς, ‘womb,’ and its derivative ἀδελφός, ‘brother’; compare also δέλφαξ, ‘pig, porker.’ To the a of the Teutonic word o in Greek δολφός ἡ μήτρα, ‘the womb,’ corresponds.