Etymologically
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gulf

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 12:39. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɡʌlf/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English golf, goulf, borrowed from Old French golfe (“gulf, whirlpool”),[2][3][4] from Italian golfo (“gulf, bay”),[2][5] from Late Latin colpus, colfus,[2][4] from Ancient Greek κόλπος (kólpos, “bosom; fold of a garment; bay”).[2][3][5][6] Etymonline and Barnhart connect the Greek word with PIE Proto-Indo-European *kʷolp- (“arch, vault”), the source of hwealf (“vault”).[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A profound depth, an abyss: probably about 1380 in Barnhart,[2] the late 14th century in Etymonline.[3] The OED's first sense, a portion of the sea partly enclosed by land, is from about 1400.[7]

Semantic evolution

Word Origins notes that the Greek word had many senses connected with a curved shape, and that the bay and depth senses reached English at the same time.[6] A whirlpool, and figuratively anything that swallows things up, is from 1538,[7] and a yawning chasm in the earth from before 1533.[7] The figurative sense, a wide gap or division between people, from 1557, follows Luke 16:26, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed.[7][6] The Gulf alone can mean the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Mexico or, in Australia, the Gulf of Carpentaria.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1380 – a deep abyss.[2][3]
  • c. 1400 – a large inlet of the sea.[7]
  • 1538 – a whirlpool.[7]
  • 1557 – a wide gap between people (after Luke).[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A large area of sea partly enclosed by land, usually larger than a bay.
  2. A deep wide chasm; an abyss.
  3. A wide gap or division, as in understanding or opinion.
  4. Something, such as a whirlpool, that swallows things up.

Verb

  1. To swallow up; to engulf.

Word family

  • gulflike
  • gulfy
  • engulf
  • Gulfport
  • gulfweed
  • Gulf Stream
  • Gulf War

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins