helvus.

Disputed. De Vaan posits a derivation from Proto-Italic *heliwos, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃-i-wó-s, itself from the addition of *-wos to *ǵʰolh₃-i-s, which is attested in Sanskrit हरि (hari). Nussbaum argues that the term must come from a pre-form *helVwos and would have emerged via the syncopation of the segment *-lVw- (compare Latin solvō, from *seluō). Furthermore, Nussbaum specifies that the pre-form must have been *heliwos at the time /l/ was velarized throughout Latin, as an alternative form would have—according to Nussbaum—evolved into *heɫw- following velarization and then into *holw-, as /eɫ/ evolved into /oɫ/ in initial syllables (compare *welō > volō). Sihler proposes a pre-form *hellwos, from Proto-Indo-European *ghelswo-. Sihler compares the term to Lithuanian gel̃svas, although De Vaan considers the Proto-Indo-European form posited by Sihler to be uncertain, as the only cognate—the Lithuanian term—could have been formed by a productive suffix within Lithuanian. In both proposals, the term ultimately originates from the root *ǵʰelh₃-. It has also been suggested the term is a borrowing from the Sabellic languages.