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35,981 English word records · 45,491 etymology sections in this online subset
PARTIAL ENGLISH COVERAGE · FULL CORPUS REMAINS LOCAL3 source sections across 1 headword matching “Whale”. These are separate from the reviewed results below.
whaleEnglish (en) · Etymology 1Source text
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)kʷálos Proto-Germanic *hwalaz Proto-West Germanic *hwal Old English hwæl Middle English whal English whale From Middle English whal, whale, from Old English hwæl (“whale”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwal, from Proto-Germanic *hwalaz (“whale”) (compare German Wal, Swedish val, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hval, Norwegian Nynorsk kval; compare also Dutch walvis, West Frisian walfisk, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kʷálos (“sheatfish”) (compare German Wels, Latin squalus (“big sea fish”), Old Prussian kalis, Ancient Greek ἄσπαλος (áspalos), Avestan 𐬐𐬀𐬭𐬀 (kara, “kind of fish”)).
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗whaleEnglish (en) · Etymology 1Source text
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)kʷálos Proto-Germanic *hwalaz Proto-West Germanic *hwal Old English hwæl Middle English whal English whale From Middle English whal, whale, from Old English hwæl (“whale”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwal, from Proto-Germanic *hwalaz (“whale”) (compare German Wal, Swedish val, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hval, Norwegian Nynorsk kval; compare also Dutch walvis, West Frisian walfisk, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kʷálos (“sheatfish”) (compare German Wels, Latin squalus (“big sea fish”), Old Prussian kalis, Ancient Greek ἄσπαλος (áspalos), Avestan 𐬐𐬀𐬭𐬀 (kara, “kind of fish”)).
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗whaleEnglish (en) · Etymology 2Source text
Uncertain. Perhaps a variant of wale influenced by whack, whap, etc.
Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗INDEPENDENT SOURCE LIBRARY
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Chambers (1908)
1908- WhaleEnglish · e-38700-9270
Whale, hwāl, n. the common name of a cetaceous mammal, the largest of sea-animals, including the toothed whales, such as Sperm Whale and Dolphin, and the whalebone whales, such as Right Whale and Rorqual, in which the te
Read the full source record → - WhaleEnglish · e-38700-9271
Whale, hwāl, v.t. (slang) to thrash. [Form of wale.]
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