>The old dictum that the connection between meaning and form is
>arbitrary should be replaced by the observation that the connection
>between meaning and form is *weak*. For example, these parallels
>remind me of Thai _klom_1_ 'round, spherical', _klum_2_ 'classifier
>for balls of string'
cf. Lat. glomus, glomeris (< glob-mus) and globus
cf. Engl. clew/clue: "a ball of thread, yarn, or cord"
WEBSTER on its origin: "Middle English clewe, from Old English cliewen; akin to Old High German kliuwa ball, Sanskrit glauh*
lump"
______
(* glauh: a h with a diacritical dot)
cf. Ger. der Klei "fetter, tonreicher Boden, Marschboden" (clay!!)
cf. Low German Klei "Schlamm, Lehm, feuchte Erde"
cf. Ger. die Kleie < OHG kli(w)a (or as mentioned above, kliuwa)
< Germanic *kliwon < PIE *glei- "to glue; kleben"
cf. Ger. verb kleben "to stick, glue, paste, adhere, bond" and
Klebstoff "glue, adhesive", cf. Slav. klej [kley] & klija [kliya].
cf. Ger. Kleierde & Kleiboden = Lehmerde
cf. Ger. kleiig "wie Kleie; wie Klei, _tonartig_"
<<<o>>>
cf. Romanian ghem < *glemus < glomus (Ger. Knäuel)
cf. Romanian claie [klaye] restricted to "(hay)stack" & disorderly
or loose clusters/stacks etc. (incl. of hair) cf. Slavic kladnja & Ukra. klit
>and _klum_1_kO:n_2_ 'mass, clump'. (Numbers are tones, counting
>from 1.)
cf. German Klumpen (in dialects Klump as well). Most of the terms
mentioned in this thread are translatable into German with Klumpen
(even in contexts referring to coagulation).
Perhaps also cf. Türkish küme "stack; clump; conglomerate; heap;
cloud; gob (etc.)" if küm might reflect a *klum (I don't know).
Perhaps also cf. Hungarian csomó [tSo-mo:] "clump, clot, lump":
kl- > k' > tS???