Etymology

yowl

Y4O1W4L1

Today it means: A prolonged, loud cry, like the sound of an animal; a wail; a howl. Full definition →

Middle English youlen ← Old Norse gaula
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The story

  1. Old Norse · derived fromgaula“to low, bellow, howl, scream”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromyoulen
  3. English todayyowl

From Middle English youlen, goulen, from Old Norse gaula (“to low, bellow, howl, scream”), related to Icelandic gaula (“to yell, howl, roar”), Faroese geyla (“to bawl, squall, shout, yell, bellow”), Norwegian gaule (“to roar, howl, whine, weep noisily”), dialectal Swedish gjöla, Scots gowl (“to howl, yell, roar”), Shetlandic Scots gjol. Initial y- possibly influenced by Middle English yollen, yellen (“to yell”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.