Etymograph

English

quell

Quell comes from Middle English quellen ‘to kill or slay’, from Proto-West Germanic *kwalljan ‘to make suffer, hurt’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- ‘to throw, reach, pierce’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷelH-1‘to throw, reach, pierce’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kwelaną1‘to suffer, hurt’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kwaljaną1‘to make die’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kwalljan1‘to make suffer, hurt’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150cwellan1‘to kill’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500quellen1‘to kill or slay’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1579quell1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English quell
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1579, Immeritô pseudonym; Edmund Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender: […]: “Winter's wrath begins to quell.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷelH-Wiktionary, English quell‘to throw, reach, pierce’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kwelanąWiktionary, English quell‘to suffer, hurt’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kwaljanąWiktionary, English quell‘to make die’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kwalljanWiktionary, English quell‘to make suffer, hurt’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150cwellanWiktionary, English quell‘to kill’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500quellenWiktionary, English quell‘to kill or slay’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1579quellWiktionary, English quell. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1579, Immeritô pseudonym; Edmund Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender: […]: “Winter's wrath begins to quell.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- ‘to throw, reach, pierce’

ball, symbol, devil, metabolic, emblem, hyperbolic, parable, parabolic, embolism, anabolic, obelisk, quill, metabolize, pul, hyperbola, 68 more

through Proto-Germanic *kwelaną ‘to suffer, hurt’

quail, 2 more

Another origin of quell

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷelH-‘to throw, reach, pierce’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kwalljā‘spring, well’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150cwiella‘spring (of water)’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*quellereconstructed
  5. Englishtodayquell

Today it means

verb To subdue, put down, or silence (someone or something); to force (someone) to submit.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “quell”. 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 *gʷelH- / quell

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