English
swole
Swole may come from Middle English swal.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500swaluncertain
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1631swole
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500swaluncertain
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1631swole
Earliest quotation: a. 1631, John Donne, The Storme. To Mr. Christopher Brooke.: “Mildly it [the wind] kiſt our ſailes, and, freſh,…”
The story
From earlier swoll, from Middle English swal, swall, swalle (simple past tense), and suoll, suolle, swalle, swol, swole, swolle, iswolle, yswolle (past participle), inflected forms of swellen (‘to swell’), from Old English sweall (simple past tense), from Proto-Germanic *swall, first and third person singular preterite of Proto-Germanic *swellaną (‘to swell’); further origin uncertain.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *swel- ‘to swell’
methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, phenyl, ethane, swill, 34 more
through Proto-Germanic *swellaną ‘to swell’
through Middle English swellen ‘to swell’
Today it means
adj Swollen, enlarged.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English swal / swole