Etymograph

English

swally

Swally comes from Northern Middle English swelgh ‘throat, whirlpool, pit’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *swelgaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*swelgazreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*swelgreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150ġeswelg‘whirlpool, gulf, abyss’
  4. Northern Middle Englishmodernswelgh‘throat, whirlpool, pit’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1987swally

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*swelgazreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*swelgreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150ġeswelg‘whirlpool, gulf, abyss’
  4. Northern Middle Englishmodernswelgh‘throat, whirlpool, pit’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1987swally

Earliest quotation: 1987, Agnes Owens: “I flung over my box and he asked if…”

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *swelgaz

Another origin of swally

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swel-‘to drink, swallow’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*swelk-‘to gulp’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*swelganą‘to gulp, gobble, swallow, devour’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*swelganreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150swelgan‘to swallow’
  6. Northern Middle Englishmodernsweligh
  7. Englishtodayswally

Today it means

noun The act of swallowing.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *swelgaz / swally

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