Etymograph

English

quell

Quell comes from Middle English quellen ‘to kill or slay’, from Proto-West Germanic *kwalljan ‘to make suffer, hurt’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- ‘to throw, reach, pierce’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷelH-‘to throw, reach, pierce’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kwelaną‘to suffer, hurt’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kwaljaną‘to make die’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kwalljan‘to make suffer, hurt’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150cwellan‘to kill’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500quellen‘to kill or slay’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1579quell

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷelH-‘to throw, reach, pierce’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kwelaną‘to suffer, hurt’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kwaljaną‘to make die’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kwalljan‘to make suffer, hurt’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150cwellan‘to kill’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500quellen‘to kill or slay’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1579quell

Earliest quotation: 1579, Immeritô pseudonym; Edmund Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender: […]: “Winter's wrath begins to quell.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- ‘to throw, reach, pierce’

ball, symbol, devil, metabolic, emblem, hyperbolic, parable, parabolic, embolism, anabolic, obelisk, quill, metabolize, pul, hyperbola, 68 more

through Proto-Germanic *kwelaną ‘to suffer, hurt’

quail, 2 more

Another origin of quell

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷelH-‘to throw, reach, pierce’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kwalljā‘spring, well’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150cwiella‘spring (of water)’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*quellereconstructed
  5. Englishtodayquell

Today it means

verb To subdue, put down, or silence (someone or something); to force (someone) to submit.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- / quell

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