whisper

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*ḱweys-
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*hwisprōną“to hiss, whistle, whisper”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*hwisprōn
4. Old English · inherited fromhwisprian“to mutter, murmur, whisper”
5. Middle English · inherited fromwhisperen
6. English todaywhisper

From Middle English whisperen, from Old English hwisprian (“to mutter, murmur, whisper”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwisprōn, from Proto-Germanic *hwisprōną (“to hiss, whistle, whisper”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱweys-, *ḱwey- (“to hiss, whistle, whisper”). Cognate with Dutch wisperen (“to whisper”), German wispern (“to mumble, whisper”). Related also to Danish hviske (“to whisper”), Icelandic hvískra (“to whisper”), Norwegian Bokmål hviske, kviskre (“to whisper”), Norwegian Nynorsk kviskre, kviskra (“to whisper”), Swedish viska (“to whisper”). More at English whistle.