English
waddle
Waddle comes from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂dʰ- ‘to go, to proceed’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weh₂dʰ-‘to go, to proceed’root as named · steps between not traced
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wadelen
- Englishearliest quotation 1963waddle
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weh₂dʰ-‘to go, to proceed’root as named · steps between not traced
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wadelen
- Englishearliest quotation 1963waddle
Earliest quotation: 1963, Red Smith, The Best of Red Smith: “Mr. Lillis imported a waddle of penguins who lined…”
Formed from wade + -le
Proto-Indo-European *weh₂dʰ- ‘to go’
Proto-Germanic *wadaną ‘to go, pass through’
Proto-West Germanic *wadan ‘to wade’
Old English wadan ‘to go, to advance, to travel’
Middle English waden ‘to wade through a fluid’
English wade
first attested First known use in English in a version of the Song of Roland around the year 1400 (as stated in the etymology)
The story
First known use in English in a version of the Song of Roland around the year 1400.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *weh₂dʰ- ‘to go, to proceed’
Today it means
noun A squat, swaying gait.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *weh₂dʰ- / waddle