English
kvell
Kvell comes from Yiddish קוועלן ‘to kvell’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *kwellan ‘to well up, swell up’.
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kwellan‘to well up, swell up’reconstructed
- Old High Germanc. 750–1050quellan
- Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350quellen
- Yiddishmodernקוועלןkveln‘to kvell’
- Englishearliest quotation 2013kvell
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kwellan‘to well up, swell up’reconstructed
- Old High Germanc. 750–1050quellan
- Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350quellen
- Yiddishmodernקוועלןkveln‘to kvell’
- Englishearliest quotation 2013kvell
Earliest quotation: 2013, Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge: “‘Magnificent residence,’ she pretended to kvell, ‘maybe I'm in…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- ‘to drip’
ball, symbol, devil, metabolic, emblem, hyperbolic, quail, parable, quill, parabolic, embolism, anabolic, obelisk, metabolize, quell, pul, hyperbola, 67 more
Today it means
verb To feel delighted and proud; to boast; to gloat.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-West Germanic *kwellan / kvell