English

Tilt-A-Whirl

From tilt + a + whirl.

A compound of tilt + a + whirl

Proto-West Germanic *taltijan

Old English *tyltan ‘to be unsteady’

Middle English tilte

English tilt

Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos ‘one’

Proto-Germanic *ainaz ‘one’

Proto-West Germanic *ain ‘one’

Old English ān ‘one; a certain’

Middle English a

English a

Middle English whirlen

English whirl

The story

Invented in 1926 by Herbert Sellner of Sellner Manufacturing Company Inc. of Faribault, MN, U.S.A.

noun A spinning-platform amusement ride that exposes its riders to unpredictable combinations of tilting, spinning and horizontal movement.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Tilt-A-Whirl