dwell

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*dʰwel-
2. Proto-Germanic*dwalaz
3. Proto-Germanic*dwaljaną
4. Proto-West Germanic*dwalljan
5. Old Englishdwellan
6. Old Norsedveljainflu.
7. Middle Englishdwellen
8. English todaydwell

From Middle English dwellen (“delay, live, remain, persist”), from Old English dwellan (“to mislead, deceive; be led into error, stray”), from Proto-Germanic *dwaljaną (“to hold up, delay; hesitate”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwelH- (“to whirl, swirl, blur, obfuscate”), which is cognate with Old Norse dvelja and related to Proto-Germanic *dwelaną (“to go astray”), which underwent semantic change in its descendants. Cognates include Danish dvæle (“to linger, dwell”) and Swedish dväljas (“to dwell, reside”).

Words from the same roots