Etymology

keelson

K5E1E1L1S1O1N1

Today it means: A longitudinal beam fastened on top of the keel of a vessel for strength and stiffness. Full definition →

First used c. 1611Middle English kelswayn ← Low German kielswîn ← Old Norse kjǫlr
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Old Norse · derived fromkjǫlr
  2. Low German · derived fromkielswîn
  3. Middle English · inherited fromkelswayn
  4. English todaykeelson

Late Middle English kelswayn, from Low German kielswîn, kielswīn, from kiel (“keel of a ship”) (from Old Norse kjǫlr) + swin (“swine”), used as the name of a timber (however, compare sill). Compare with Dutch kolzwijn, kolsem, Low German, kielswîn, German Kielschwein, Danish kølsvin, kölsvin, all with the same meaning.

Words from the same roots

Old Norsekjǫlr all →

keel

First known use, by meaning

  • from c. 1611 A longitudinal beam fastened on top of the keel of a vessel for strength and stiffness.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.