ալի

Learned borrowing from Old Armenian ալի (ali)

• (Eastern Armenian, standard) IPA^(key): [ɑˈli]

ալի • (ali)

1. Alternative form of ալիք (alikʿ)

From Proto-Indo-European *pelH- (“pale, grey”). Martirosyan tentatively reconstructs the derivation as ալի (ali) ← Proto-Armenian *aliya- ← *(p)olíya- ← Proto-Indo-European *polyeh₂-.

ալի • (ali)

1. (usually in the plural) wave, billow, surge, swell of the sea

   ալիս յարուցանել ― alis yarucʿanel ― to agitate the waves

   հերձանել, պատառել զալիս ― herjanel, pataṙel zalis ― to cleave the waves

2. (usually in the plural) gray hair; old age

   ծաղկիլ ալեաց, խոնարհիլ յալիս ― całkil aleacʿ, xonarhil yalis ― to grow gray-haired, to get old

• Armenian: ալիք (alikʿ)

• Ačaṙyan, Hračʿya (1940) Hayocʿ lezvi patmutʿyun [History of the Armenian Language] (in Armenian), volume I, Yerevan: University Press, page 34
• Ačaṙean, Hračʿeay (1971–1979), “ալի”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Dictionary of Armenian Root Words] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, Yerevan: University Press
• Awetikʿean, G.; Siwrmēlean, X.; Awgerean, M. (1836–1837), “ալիք”, in Nor baṙgirkʿ haykazean lezui [New Dictionary of the Armenian Language] (in Old Armenian), Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy
• Martirosyan, Hrach (2010), “ali-kʿ”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 8), Leiden, Boston: Brill, page 14
• Petrosean, H. Matatʿeay V. (1879), “ալիք”, in Nor Baṙagirkʿ Hay-Angliarēn [New Dictionary Armenian–English], Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy

Ačaṙyan leaves the origin open.

According to J̌ahukyan perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *əliyo-, from the root *Heh₃l- (“to bend”), among the cognates note especially Welsh olwyn (“wheel”).

ալի • (ali)

1. The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include:
   1. axle
   2. millstone
   3. pulley

• The word is a hapax legomenon.
• The nominative *ալ (*al) reconstructed by Nor baṙgirkʿ haykazean lezui is probably wrong.

• Petrosean, H. Matatʿeay V. (1879), “ալի”, in Nor Baṙagirkʿ Hay-Angliarēn [New Dictionary Armenian–English], Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy
• Awetikʿean, G.; Siwrmēlean, X.; Awgerean, M. (1836–1837), “ալ”, in Nor baṙgirkʿ haykazean lezui [New Dictionary of the Armenian Language] (in Old Armenian), Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy
• Ačaṙean, Hračʿeay (1971), “ալի”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Dictionary of Armenian Root Words] (in Armenian), volume I, 2nd edition, reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, Yerevan: University Press, page 93a
• Pokorny, Julius (1959), “⁸el-”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume I, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 307 of 307, 308
• J̌ahukyan, Geworg (1963), “Stugabanutʿyunner [Etymologies]”, in Patma-banasirakan handes [Historical-Philological Journal]‎ (in Armenian), issue 4, pages 86–87