The story
- Proto-Indo-European · derived from*krek-“to weave, beat”
- Proto-Germanic · inherited from*hrehulaz
- Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*hrehul
- Old English · inherited fromrēol
- Middle English · inherited fromreel
- English todayreel
From Middle English reel, reele, from Old English rēol, hrēol, from Proto-West Germanic *hrehul, from Proto-Germanic *hrehulaz, *hrahilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *krek- (“to weave, beat”). Cognate with Icelandic ræl, hræll.
Words from the same roots
Proto-Indo-European*krek- all →
roe
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.