Etymograph

English

gale

Gale comes from Old English galan ‘to sing, enchant, call, cry, scream’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʰel-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰel-1‘to shout, scream, charm away’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*galaną1‘to roop, sing, charm’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*galan2reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150galan1‘to sing, enchant, call, cry, scream’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500galen1
  6. Englishtodaygale1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English gale
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English galan

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰel-Wiktionary, English gale‘to shout, scream, charm away’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*galanąWiktionary, English gale‘to roop, sing, charm’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*galanWiktionary, Old English galanreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150galanWiktionary, English gale‘to sing, enchant, call, cry, scream’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500galenWiktionary, English gale
  6. EnglishtodaygaleWiktionary, English gale

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʰel- ‘to shout, scream, charm away’

glass, yell, glaze, yelp, gloat, geld, hyaline, 16 more

Another origin of gale

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰel-‘to shout, cry’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*galaną‘to sing’uncertain
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*galan‘to sing’uncertain
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150galan‘to sing’uncertain
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gale‘a wind, breeze’
  6. Englishtodaygale

From Middle English gale (‘a wind, breeze’), possibly from Old English galan, possibly an unknown North Germanic origin, related to Icelandic gola (‘a breeze’), Danish gal (‘furious, mad’), both from Old Norse gala (‘to sing’), and thus ultimately related to the above word (etymology 1).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Another origin of gale

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gagulazreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gagulreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150gagel
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gaile
  5. Englishtodaygale

Another origin of gale

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150gafol
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gavel‘rent’
  3. Englishtodaygale

Today it means

verb To cry; groan; croak.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “gale”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English galan. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gʰel- / gale

Shirt and support for this word