I guess you could call those relics.
Thinking about relics or other sacred symbols shaped like a helix, that reminds me of a picture of coiled stripes of silver from sumer used as payment. I wasn't aware of the analysis as Latin re- + linquo (leave behind), but only with that info does "money" kind of make sense, as something left behind (for insurance). I'm not sure re- is the correct analysis there, but much less so that *wel- is the root for helix. The established theory is simpler, and I'd have to come up with something dense to explain why an *r (not a Latin 'r', obviously) should have became a rough breathing.
Some fricative realization of /r/ overlaps with /ħ/ or /x/ and some realization of /h/ might overlap with /x/ as well. That's not really problematic. What's problematic is that, as usual, if setting out with a crazy idea, there will be no shortage of apparent leads. There are too many words with too little information available (on wiktionary at least), that need to be compared. If coincidences abound, there's reason to remain skeptic.
No cognates are mentioned neither at *wel- nor at ἕλιξ, and if there were, these would need to be distinguished from loan words (like, literal debt).
Greek χρήμα, χρήματα "money, currency", etc. lead to χρή "have to, ought, should", where the trail ends. That Onset fits my phonetic hypothesis. Also, I just today learned that number replaced OE/ME ream.
Greek λεφτά "money, wealth" offers no explanation, links a variant lepta, and we can find lepto "minute, cent", too. Latin lepto "thin, small" links to AGr. λεπτός, quote: "From λέπω (lépō, “I peel”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“break off, rind”)."
Of course lefta reminds a lot of En. left, leave, and indeed of Agr. λείπω (leípō) "to leave, lack". A quick overview of near homophones is at λίπος "fat". leave is at least as complex to compare. The established etymologies don't agree with my idea, however ...
lack, in turn needs to be compared to leak, and Ger. lecken "leak, lick": That a cow licked ice until a man emerged, as the Eddas have us believe, instead of a cow leaking milk to foster mankind, that's just, I don't even ... Maybe the En. leaven "starter" has to do not just with dough, but cheese making, too--cp. Ger. Lab "rennet". Even better, rennet is explained as cognate with to run, cp. Ger. gerinnen "coagulate" and, while I find that quite surprising, it sure reminds of currency, from Lt. curra (currant? Korinthen?), *kers- "to run". So far, that's only coincidence.
Agr. leipo and Lt. linquo link *leykʷ- "to leave". What do we find there? AGr ἔλῐπε (élipe, “he left”), from *likʷ-e-t (thematic root aorist) ... that rough breathing, where's that from? It also derives Proto-Indo-Iranian *ráyknas "property left, inheritance", "Cognate with Proto-Germanic *laihną (“loan, fief”)". An 'r', now wait a minute. That seems to be a regular sound change, because Sanskrit doesn't have word initial /l/. But it opens a possibility for loans, perhaps from Persian, if we want to suppose a *relix. It's hard to tell whether ellipse should be from the same root, but the gloss ἐλλείπω (elleípō, “to fall short, omit”) fit's perfectly to my expectation about calqued Ger. ausgelassen "omitted". Via "ausgelassen feiern" a sense of "wealthy" might be gleamed, although a derivation as "freely, wild, omitting restraints" would be amendable; cp. Nachlass (inheritance), sich auslassen "to vent anger, let it out", Anlass "ocassion, event, festivity", anlassen "to start", an lassen "to leave on", verlassen "to leave", veranlassen "to cause, set into action", lassen "to let".
*likʷ-e-t reminds so much of liquid, which reconstructs *wleykʷ- (“to run, flow”). I read a translation of the Codex Hammurabi that said liquidate (of a contract or other tablet), however I can't seem to find it again now and other translations don't say so. Anyhow, the relation of financial liquidity to water strikes me as rather obscure.
- Ger. Flucht (n. to flee, ie. to try to leave) reconstructs *plewk- "to fly" instead. I'm not convinced. It could point to *wleykʷ-~*leykʷ- instead (why not)
Ger. Geld "money" reconstructs *gʰeldʰ- (“to pay”). *gʰ can go to *w sometimes, I believe (where?).
δραχμή (Drachme) is of pre-greek origin, according to Beekes, because of variants darkhma, darkhna. Can we go a step further and see -khram, for χρήματα, with "dar-" perhaps related to drag, *ter-?
khre (viz. *khrema "money") Links related khron. The origin of Chronos is of course mysterious. Time is money, they say. And Cream rules everything around me.
compare value, Latin valere "be strong, worth", showing two different roots: PIE *walh₂- (“to be strong”) [red link, unsourced] or *h₂wl̥h₁éh₁yeti, from *h₂welh₁- (“to rule, be strong”). Well, well, well.
Where's roubel "the Russian currency" from? If this is indeed cognate with руби́ть (rubit) "to axe, fell" and Polish rąbać "to chop, hew", then compare Ger. Rabatz machen and Welle machen "to muck up". The idea is that it's a cut of grivna (the currency of Ukraine), also hryvnia, hryvna, that from Proto-Slavic *grivĭna 'necklace' from Proto-Slavic *griva 'neck, nape, mane. Now compare lace, from Latin laqueus "nouse, snare, gin, trap". I am of course alluding to linquo, *leykʷ-; wiktionary says: "From Proto-Italic *lakw- (“to ensnare”), with no certain cognates in any other Indo-European languages; possibly Proto-Indo-European *lēk- (“string, twig, tendril”)." There is a semantic gap, but come on. Cp. linger "to hang around".
Sadly, allusions to servitude, like lackey come to mind, frequently. Owning slavse meant wealth and "rings" were so significantly connected that the symbolism still appears in Persian words related to slavery (I don't quite know how).
This is patently weird. After all, I'm running out of time and thinking, well, helix might be from *wel- after all.
- look at re-; From PIE *wret-, a metathetic alteration of *wert- (“to turn”). Not only does that remind twofold of Ger. "Gegenwert" (...-value)--besides Gegenwart "the present", gegenwärtig "current, present"--but surely reminds somewhat of *wel-, too?
It looks like *wel- could need an update or two.
- Maybe also compare gain, again and against.
Vulva in my mind needs comparing to 'bulba', though I'm not sure whether I read that somewhere or not.
Appendix: ancient valuta (not sure about the copyright status)
