Etymograph

English

chill

Chill comes from Middle English chele ‘a chill’, from Old English ċiele ‘cold’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gel-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gel-‘to be cold’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kaliz‘cold, coldness’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kalireconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150ċiele‘cold’
  5. enm-soumodernchile
  6. Anglian Old Englishmodernċele
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chele‘a chill’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1634chill

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gel-‘to be cold’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kaliz‘cold, coldness’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kalireconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150ċiele‘cold’
  5. enm-soumodernchile
  6. Anglian Old Englishmodernċele
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chele‘a chill’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1634chill

Earliest quotation: 1634, John Milton, Arcades: “Noisome winds, and blasting vapours chill.”

The story

Closely related with Dutch kil.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gel- ‘to be cold’

cold, clean, children, cloud, child, globe, cluster, gel, colt, jelly, clout, clot, gelatin, clough, gelato, glebe, ganglion, clod, globus, klutz, globulin, 48 more

Another origin of chill

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kilēn‘to be cold’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150ċilian‘to be cold’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chillen
  4. Englishtodaychill

Today it means

noun A moderate, but uncomfortable and penetrating coldness.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gel- / chill

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