English
whelp
Whelp comes from Middle English whelp ‘a whelp’, from Old English hwelp ‘puppy’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hwelpaz.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hwelpaz‘puppy’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hwelp‘whelp, pup’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hwelp‘puppy’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500whelp‘a whelp’
- Englishearliest quotation 1596same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hwelpaz‘puppy’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hwelp‘whelp, pup’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hwelp‘puppy’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500whelp‘a whelp’
- Englishearliest quotation 1596same form
Earliest quotation: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book VI, Canto XI: “[…]And fared like a furious wyld Beare, / Whose…”
The story
From Middle English whelp, from Old English hwelp, from Proto-West Germanic *hwelp, from Proto-Germanic *hwelpaz (compare Dutch welp, German Welpe, Welfe, Old Norse hvelpr, Norwegian Nynorsk kvelp, Danish hvalp), from pre-Germanic *kʷelbos, of uncertain origin.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʷelbʰ- ‘womb’
Another origin of whelp
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷelbʰ-‘womb’uncertain
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hwelpaz‘puppy’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hwelp‘whelp, pup’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hwelp‘puppy’
- Old English, derivedc. 450–1150hwelpian‘to give birth’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500whelpen‘to give birth’
- Englishtodaywhelp
Today it means
noun A young offspring of a various carnivores (canid, ursid, felid, pinniped), especially of a dog or a wolf, the young of a bear or similar mammal (lion, tiger, seal); a pup, wolf cub.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *hwelpaz / whelp