gelid

English

WOTD – 26 February 2008

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *gel-

Latin gelū̆

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der.

Proto-Italic *-iðos

Latin -idus

Latin gelidus

English gelid

First attested in 1630. From Latin gelidus (“cold”), from gelu (“frost”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛl.ɪd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛl.əd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

gelid (comparative more gelid, superlative most gelid)

1. (literary) Very cold; icy or frosty; frigid.
   • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, (please specify the book or page number):

     Of Cassandra-Marat we have spoken often; yet the most surprising truth remains to be spoken: that he actually does not want sense; but, with croaking gelid throat, croaks out masses of the truth, on several things.

   • 1898, Florence Earle Coates, “Siberia”, in Poems:

     Above the gelid source of mountain springs,
     ⁠A solitary eagle, circling, flies.

   • 2005, Robert Jordan, Knife of Dreams:

     In the worst of summer the tower remained cool, yet the air seemed feverish and gelid when sisters of different Ajahs came too close.

   • 2008, David Szalay, London and the South-East:

     For a while he stares out of the window. It is twilight - cold, deepening twilight. Over the roofs of the opposite house-backs, two garden lengths away, the sky is gelid, luminous, sad. A quiet albescent yellow. Everything is very still.

Derived terms

• gelidity / gelidness
• gelidly

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *gel- (0 c, 42 e)

Translations

very cold; icy — see also freezing,‎ frigid,‎ algid

• Bulgarian: леден (bg) (leden)
• Czech: ledový (cs) m, (of water also:) krahová f
• Dutch: ijzig (nl)
• Finnish: jäätävä (fi), jääkylmä (fi)
• French: froid (fr), glacé (fr), glacial (fr)
• Georgian: გაყინული (gaq̇inuli), ყინულოვანი (q̇inulovani), ყინულიანი (q̇inuliani), ცივ-ცივი (civ-civi), ცივი (civi)
• German: frostig (de), eisig (de), eiskalt (de)
• Italian: gelido (it), freddo (it), gelato (it), ghiacciato (it)
• Portuguese: gélido (pt)
• Russian: ледяно́й (ru) (ledjanój)
• Spanish: gélido (es)
• Swedish: iskall (sv), frusen (sv)
• Ukrainian: льодовий m (lʹodovyj), крижаний m (kryžanyj)

Anagrams

• Glide, glide, lidge, liged

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch gelit; cognate with German Glied. By surface analysis, ge- +‎ lid.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɣəˈlɪt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ge‧lid
• Rhymes: -ɪt

Noun

gelid n (plural gelederen, no diminutive)

1. row of a formation, battle line
2. an organizational rank, especially a military rank

Descendants

• Afrikaans: gelid

Noun

gelid n (plural geleden, no diminutive)

1. a joint, a point of articulation

Anagrams

• gilde, ledig

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *gʷeleti (“to graze”), of uncertain origin; perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *gʷlew-, extension from *gʷel- (“throat”), which could be imitative. See also Old English ceole, German Kehle, Proto-Slavic *glъtati (“to devour”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡʲe.lʲəðʲ/
  • (Blasse) [ˈɡʲe.lʲɪðʲ]
  • (Griffith) [ˈɡʲe.lʲɨðʲ]

Verb

gelid (conjunct ·geil, verbal noun gelt)

1. to graze, consume
   • c. 700, De Origine Scoticae Linguae from the Yellow Book of Lecan, O'Mulc. 830

     Ron·geilt in gaeth feib geilius [nem]aod forderg fidnime [leg. fidnaige].

     The storm has consumed us [lit. grazed on] like heavenly red fire consumes [lit. grazes on] firewood.

   • c. 800, Immacaldam Choluim Cille ⁊ ind óclaig, published in "The Lough Foyle Colloquy Texts: Immacaldam Choluim Chille 7 ind Óclaig oc Carraic Eolairg and Immacaldam in Druad Brain 7 Inna Banḟátho Febuil Ós Loch Ḟebuil", Ériu 52 (2002), pp. 53-87, edited and with translations by John Carey,

     "Cesc," ol Colum Cille, "cóich robo riam, a lloch-sa at·chiam?" Respondit iuvenis: "Ro·fetur-sa aní-sin; [...] ra·giult-sa [MS ro·diultsa] a mbasa os, ra·senas a mbasa é[o]...

     "A question," said Colum Cille, "whose was it formerly, this loch we see?" The youth responded, "I know that! [...] I had grazed it when I was a stag, I had swum it when I was a salmon...

   • c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 80^a11

     géldae ― glosses Latin depastus est

   • c. 845, St Gall Glosses on Priscian, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1975, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. II, pp. 49–224, Sg. 143^b1

     gelid ― glosses Latin depascitur

Inflection

Simple, class B I present, t preterite, é future, a subjunctive

		active						passive
		singular			plural			singular	plural
		1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
present indicative	abs.			gelid
	conj.			·gel			·gelat	·gelar
	rel.			geiles
imperfect indicative
preterite	abs.						geltatar
	conj.
	rel.						geltatar
perfect	deut.	ro·diult (misspelling of ra·giult, with infixed pronoun a-)		ro·gelt
	prot.
future	abs.
	conj.
	rel.						géldae
conditional
present subjunctive	abs.
	conj.
	rel.
past subjunctive
imperative
verbal noun		gelt
past participle
verbal of necessity		glidi

Derived terms

• con·geil
• fo·geil

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “gelid”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language