hwæl

Middle English

Noun

hwæl

(Early Middle English) Alternative form of whale

Old English

A scale model of a blue whale.

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *hwal, from Proto-Germanic *hwalaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kʷálos (“large fish, sheatfish”). Cognate with Old Saxon hwal, Old High German wal, Old Norse hvalr, Latin squalus (“shark”). Perhaps also related to Finnish kala, from Proto-Uralic *kala.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /xwæl/, [ʍæl]

Noun

hwæl m

whale

Declension

Declension of hwæl (strong a-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	hwæl	hwalas
accusative	hwæl	hwalas
genitive	hwæles	hwala
dative	hwæle	hwalum

Derived terms

horshwæl (“walrus”)
hwælhunta (“whaler”)
hwælhuntoþ (“whaling”)

Descendants

Middle English: whale, hwæl, qual, whal, swale, quall, quale, whaale, whalle, qwayll, wale, qwall, qwalle
- English: whale
- Scots: whaul

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