growl

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*gʰer-“to make a noise; to mumble, murmur; to rattle; to grind; to rub, stroke”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*gruljaną“to make a sound; to growl, grumble, rumble”
3. Old English · inherited fromgryllan
4. Frankish · derived from*grullen
5. Old French · derived fromgroler
6. Middle English · inherited fromgroulen
7. English todaygrowl

From Middle English groulen, grollen, gurlen (“of the bowels: to growl, rumble”), either possibly from Old French groler (variant of croler (“to be agitated, shake”)), grouler, grouller (“to growl, grumble”), from Frankish *grullen, *gruljan or from Old English gryllan, both from Proto-Germanic *gruljaną (“to make a sound; to growl, grumble, rumble”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to make a noise; to mumble, murmur; to rattle; to grind; to rub, stroke”), probably ultimately imitative. The word is cognate with Middle Dutch grollen (“to make a noise; to croak, grumble, murmur; to be angry”) (modern Dutch grollen (“to grumble”)), German grollen (“to rumble; to be angry, bear ill will”), Old English grillan, griellan (“to provoke, offend; to gnash the teeth”). Compare grill. The noun is derived from the verb.

Words from the same roots