Etymograph

English

gable

Gable may come from Old French gable.

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400gableuncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1851same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400gableuncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1851same form

Earliest quotation: 1851, Herman Melville, The Whale: “It was a queer sort of place—a gable-ended old…”

The story

The southern English term gable probably came from Old French gable (compare modern French gâble), from Old Norse gafl. The northern form gavel is perhaps also akin to Old Norse gafl, masculine, of the same meaning (compare Swedish gavel, Danish gavl).

Every English word from Old French gable

Today it means

noun The triangular area at the peak of an external wall adjacent to, and terminating, two sloped roof surfaces (pitches).

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

Etymograph / Old French gable / gable

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