Etymograph

English

weasel

Weasel comes from Middle English wēsele ‘weasel, polecat’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *weys- ‘to ooze, stink’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weys-‘to ooze, stink’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wisulǭreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wisulāreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150weosule
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wēsele‘weasel, polecat’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1961weasel

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weys-‘to ooze, stink’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wisulǭreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wisulāreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150weosule
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wēsele‘weasel, polecat’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1961weasel

Earliest quotation: 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs: “An old traditional prescription for provoking erotic inclinations ran…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weys- ‘to ooze, stink’

virus, visceral, whisk, virulent, ooze, woozy, viscera, virion, 7 more

Today it means

noun Any of the carnivorous mammals of the genera Mustela, Neogale, Poecilogale, and Lyncodon, having a slender body, a long tail and usually a light brown upper coat and light-coloured belly.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *weys- / weasel

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