Etymology

dowel

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Today it means: A pin, or block, of wood or metal, fitting into holes in the abutting portions of two pieces, and being partly in one piece and partly in the other, to keep them in their proper relative position. Full definition →

Middle English dowle ← Old French doelle ← Frankish *duli
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*dubilaz
  2. Old Saxon · derived from*dubil
  3. Middle Low German · derived fromdövel“peg, plug”
  4. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dʰel-“curvature, hollow”
  5. Proto-Germanic · derived from*dulją“pipe”
  6. Frankish · derived from*duli“hollow tube, pipe”
  7. Old French · derived fromdoelle“the hollow part of a tool where the handle is”
  8. Middle English · inherited fromdowle
  9. English todaydowel

From Middle English dowle, dule, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Old French doelle (“the hollow part of a tool where the handle is”), from Frankish *duli (“hollow tube, pipe”), from Proto-Germanic *dulją (“pipe”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰel- (“curvature, hollow”). If so, then cognate with French douelle, douille. Alternatively from Middle Low German dövel (“peg, plug”), from Old Saxon *dubil, from Proto-Germanic *dubilaz. If so, then cognate with Dutch deuvel (“wooden peg”), German Dübel (“dowel”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.