Etymologically
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gale

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Pronunciation

Etymology

Its origin is unknown.[2][3][4][5][6] The OED thinks it may be short for “gale wind”, where gale was perhaps first an adjective,[2][7][6] and Ayto cites “gale wind” from Zachary Boyd (1619).[8] Some scholars have connected it with Danish gal (“mad, furious”) and Norwegian galen (“bad, furious”), often said of the weather, and with Old Norse galinn (“mad, frantic; bewitched”), the past participle of gala (“to sing, chant”),[2][9][10][11] which would make it a "bad wind", in Ayto's words;[8] the OED and Barnhart note that the spelling and rhymes of the earliest example seem to rule this out.[2][6] Weekley and Etymonline suggest instead Old Norse gol (“breeze”), the source of Icelandic gola,[12][9] and Etymonline also considers a name from the sound of the wind, from Old English galan (“to sing”) or giellan (“to yell”),[9] words that Partridge and Klein also compare.[13][10] The Scandinavian and Old English verbs belong with yell.[9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A wind of considerable strength: before 1547, in the Earl of Surrey's verse on the 73rd Psalm.[2] Barnhart has the form gaile wind at the same date.[6]

Semantic evolution

In the earliest use a gale was a strong wind, and in nautical language it came to mean what on land is called a storm.[2] At the same time poets used it for a gentle breeze (from 1728 in the OED), often as the bearer of scents (1711);[2][3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a wind not tempestuous, yet stronger than a breeze", quoting Shakespeare's "What happy gale".[14] Sailors placed it between a stiff breeze and a storm, and meteorology fixed it as a wind of 32 to 63 miles an hour,[9][3] force seven to ten on the Beaufort scale.[15] A figurative sense, a state of excitement or hilarity, is recorded in American English from 1838,[2] and the word is used of a sudden outburst, as in gales of laughter.[15][3] A verb, to sail away as if before a gale, is recorded from 1692 but is now rare.[2][7] In Cockney slang a gale of was an intensifier, a great quantity.[16]

Timeline

  • before 1547 – a strong wind.[2][6]
  • 1619 – gale wind.[8]
  • 1623 – figurative uses.[2]
  • 1692 – verb, to sail away as if before a gale (now rare).[2]
  • 1711 – a breeze carrying scents.[2]
  • 1728 – in poetry, a gentle breeze.[2]
  • 1838 – US, a state of excitement or hilarity.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A very strong wind; in meteorology, one of force seven to ten on the Beaufort scale, about 32 to 63 miles an hour: The gale brought down power lines across the county.[15][3][2]
  2. A sudden loud outburst, especially of laughter: gales of laughter.[15][3]
  3. (archaic, poetic) A gentle breeze.[15][3][2]

Verb

  1. (rare) Of a ship, to sail away as if before a gale.[2][7]

Word family

  • near gale
  • strong gale
  • whole gale

Usage notes

Other words spelled gale are the bog myrtle or sweet gale, inherited from Old English gagel,[2][5][7] and the rent paid at set times, or in the Forest of Dean a miner's royalty, probably contracted from gavel.[2][3][7] The English Dialect Dictionary records many more dialect words of this spelling, such as a castrated bull in Hampshire, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.[17]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  9. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  13. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  15. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  16. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  17. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)