English
gull
Gull comes from Proto-Brythonic *gwuɨlann ‘gull, seagull’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wai.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*waireconstructed
- Proto-Celticc. 1300–800 BCE*weilannā‘seagull’reconstructed
- Proto-Brythonicc. 100 BCE–500 CE*gwuɨlann‘gull, seagull’reconstructed
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gulle
- Englishearliest quotation 1947gull
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*waireconstructed
- Proto-Celticc. 1300–800 BCE*weilannā‘seagull’reconstructed
- Proto-Brythonicc. 100 BCE–500 CE*gwuɨlann‘gull, seagull’reconstructed
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gulle
- Englishearliest quotation 1947gull
Earliest quotation: 1947, –February, ‘The Aberdonian’ in Wartime: “The tide was out, and we drew up amid…”
The story
Eclipsed Middle English lare (borrowed from Latin larus) and Middle English mewe (from Old English mæw).
Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *wai
Another origin of gull
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gole‘throat’
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500golen‘to make swallowing motions, gape’
- Englishtodaygull
Another origin of gull
- Middle Low Germanc. 1200–1600goel
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gole‘a whirlpool, narrow inlet of the sea, ditch or stream’
- Englishtodaygull
From Middle English gole (‘a whirlpool, narrow inlet of the sea, ditch or stream’), from Middle Low German goel, gȫl, gȫle (‘swamp, marshy lowland’), related to Old Dutch gulla (‘pool, puddle’), Old French goille (‘pool, puddle, pond’), all ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *goli, *golljā (‘puddle’), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *guljaz, *guljǭ.
Today it means
noun A seabird of the genus Larus or of the subfamily Larinae.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *wai / gull