Etymograph

English

sowl

Sowl comes from Middle English sowel ‘food eaten with bread’, from Proto-West Germanic *sufl ‘entremets’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seu-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seu-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*suflą‘entremets, viands’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sufl‘entremets’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150sufel‘anything eaten with bread’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sowel‘food eaten with bread’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1812sowl

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seu-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*suflą‘entremets, viands’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sufl‘entremets’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150sufel‘anything eaten with bread’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sowel‘food eaten with bread’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1812sowl

Earliest quotation: 1812, Tim Bobbin pseudonym; John Collier, Reader. Hear a Spon-new Cank between th’ Eawther and His Buk: “Good lorjus days, whot whofo times ar' theese! /…”

The story

The word is cognate with Danish sul (‘sowl’), Middle Dutch suvel, zuvel (Dutch zuivel (‘dairy products’)), Middle Low German suvel, süvel, suffel (‘sowl’), Old High German sufil, sufili, Old Norse sufl, Norwegian suvl, sovl, sul (‘milk porridge; food eaten with bread, porridge or soup’), Saterland Frisian süfel (‘dairy products’), Swedish sovel (‘sowl’), West Frisian suvel (‘dairy products’).

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *seu-

Today it means

noun A dainty; a relish; a sauce; anything eaten with bread.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *seu- / sowl

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