hwæl

Middle English

Noun

hwæl

1. (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

1. whale

Declension

Strong a-stem:

	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