Etymograph

English

vole

Vole comes from Old Norse vǫllr ‘field’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *walþuz ‘forest’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*walþuz1‘forest’reconstructed
  2. Old Norsec. 800–1350vǫllr1‘field’
  3. Nornmodernvollj1
  4. Englishtodayvole1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English vole

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*walþuzWiktionary, English vole‘forest’reconstructed
  2. Old Norsec. 800–1350vǫllrWiktionary, English vole‘field’
  3. NornmodernvolljWiktionary, English vole
  4. EnglishtodayvoleWiktionary, English vole

The story

“field mouse”, was introduced to general English by George Barry in 1805; John Fleming in 1828 was first to refer to the creature by the epithet vole alone.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *wel- ‘to see, perceive’

lit, walt, welt, lait, 3 more

through Proto-Germanic *walþuz ‘forest’

wald, weald, wold

Today it means

noun Any of a large number of species of small rodents of the tribes Arvicolini, Ellobiusini, Clethrionomyini, Pliomyini, Phenacomyini and Prometheomyini.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “vole”. 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-Germanic *walþuz / vole

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