gull

gull · noun¹

1. Proto-Celtic · derived from*weilannā“seagull”
2. Proto-Brythonic · derived from*gwuɨlann
3. Middle English · inherited fromgulle
4. English todaygull

Inherited from Middle English gulle, from a Brythonic language (compare Breton gouelan, Welsh gwylan, and Cornish golan), from Proto-Brythonic *gwuɨlann, from Proto-Celtic *weilannā (“seagull”). Cognate with Old Irish foílenn, Scottish Gaelic faoileag. Compare French goéland, a borrowing from Breton. Eclipsed Middle English lare (borrowed from Latin larus) and Middle English mewe (from Old English mæw).

gull · noun, verb²

1. Middle English · inherited fromgole“throat”
2. Middle English · inherited fromgolen“to make swallowing motions, gape”
3. English todaygull

Perhaps from an obsolete term gull (“to swallow, guzzle”), from Middle English golen (“to make swallowing motions, gape”), from Middle English gole (“throat”).

gull · noun, verb³

1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*guljaz
2. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*goli
3. Middle Low German · derived fromgoel
4. Middle English · inherited fromgole“a whirlpool, narrow inlet of the sea, ditch or stream”
5. English todaygull

From Middle English gole (“a whirlpool, narrow inlet of the sea, ditch or stream”), from Middle Low German goel, gȫl, gȫle (“swamp, marshy lowland”), related to Old Dutch gulla (“pool, puddle”), Old French goille (“pool, puddle, pond”), all ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *goli, *golljā (“puddle”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *guljaz, *guljǭ.

Gull · noun⁴

From gull, from sea gull. In reference to the seagulls found in Torquay, a coastal town.

Words from the same roots