Etymograph

English

waltz

Waltz comes from German walzen ‘to dance’, from Old High German walzan ‘to turn’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *welH-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*welH-1‘to turn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*walt-1‘to turn’reconstructed
  3. Old High Germanc. 750–1050walzan1‘to turn’
  4. Germanc. 1650–presentwalzen1‘to dance’
  5. Germanc. 1650–presentWalzer1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1884waltz1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English waltz
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1884, Mark Twain pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne C, Chapter the last: “And he said, what he had planned in his…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*welH-Wiktionary, English waltz‘to turn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*walt-Wiktionary, English waltz‘to turn’reconstructed
  3. Old High Germanc. 750–1050walzanWiktionary, English waltz‘to turn’
  4. Germanc. 1650–presentwalzenWiktionary, English waltz‘to dance’
  5. Germanc. 1650–presentWalzerWiktionary, English waltz
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1884waltzWiktionary, English waltz. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1884, Mark Twain pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne C, Chapter the last: “And he said, what he had planned in his…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *welH- ‘to turn’

well, volume, revolution, evolution, walk, wall, involve, valve, evolve, vault, vulgar, revolt, helix, convoluted, divulge, voluminous, vagrant, vulva, gauche, convolution, vulgate, iliac, ilium, involution, voluble, wale, valvular, valise, 75 more

Today it means

noun A ballroom dance in 3/4 time.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “waltz”. 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 *welH- / waltz

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