whal

See also: Whal

Middle English

Alternative forms

• swale, wale, whalle, whale
• quale, quall, qwall, qwalle (mainly Northern)
• whaale (late), qwayll, qwaylle (Catholicon Anglicum)
• hwæl (Early Middle English)

Etymology

Inherited from Old English hwæl, from Proto-West Germanic *hwal, from Proto-Germanic *hwalaz.

The form with /aː/ originates from open-syllable lengthening in inflected forms, while the form swale may reflect the influence of squalus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hwal/, /hwaːl/
• (dialectal) IPA^(key): /w-/, /xw-/

Noun

whal (plural whales or whalles)

1. A whale or cetacean.
2. (rare) An oceanic monster.
3. (rare) The meat of the whale.

Descendants

• English: whale
• Scots: whaul

References

• “whāle, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-01.