howl

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English houlen, earlier hulen,^[2][3][4][5] probably of imitative origin.^{[2][6][5][7][8]} It corresponds to Middle Dutch hūlen (“to howl”), Dutch huilen, Middle Low German hūlen, Middle High German hiulen or hiuweln, and German heulen,^{[7][9][10][11][2]} as well as Danish hyle and Old Norse ýla.^[12][8][13] Wiktionary and Köbler reconstruct Proto-Germanic *hūwilōną (“to howl”),^[1][14] and the verb may be connected with Old High German hūwila (“owl”);^[2][9][11] Hoad and the Shorter Oxford suggest it may come directly from the Middle English word for owl, hule.^[9][10] The OED and Skeat compare Latin ululō (“to howl”), Ancient Greek ὑλᾶν (hulân, “to bark”) and Old French uller, urler, now hurler.^[7][8][15] The MED compares Anglo-Norman ouler.^[3] The noun is from the verb.^[7][10][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To utter a long doleful cry, of animals: Barnhart finds hulen before 1250, in the Bestiary, and houlen probably before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder.^[2] The MED's first quotation is from Walter of Bibbesworth's glossary (before 1333), where houleth glosses the howling of a wolf,^[3] and the OED's is from Gower's Confessio Amantis (1390).^[7] Etymonline dates the verb to the early 13th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the verb was used of animals howling, and of owls hooting, then of people wailing or lamenting, and of shouting at someone.^[3] Chaucer used it twice and Gower once.^[16] The OED's sense of a human wail dates from about 1405, in Chaucer's Knight's Tale.^[7] From 1687 it was used of the wind or a storm.^[7] To howl down, to silence someone by howling, is recorded from 1872.^[7] The noun is first found in Shakespeare, in Macbeth and Henry V,^[7][2] and Johnson (1755) quoted the wolf "Whose howl's his watch" from Macbeth.^[17] In American slang from the 1870s a howl was also a loud complaint,^[18] and in the 20th century a noise from feedback in a loudspeaker (1921)^[7] and something very funny.^[13][11] The phrase howling wilderness is after Deuteronomy 32:10.^[15] In Norfolk dialect, to be howling along on the wind was to be rumoured.^[19]

Timeline

• before 1250 – hulen, to howl, in the Bestiary.^[2]
• before 1333 – of animals, to howl; of owls, to hoot.^[3]
• c. 1405 – of people, to wail or lament.^[7]
• 1530 – transitive, to utter with howling.^[7]
• 1599 – noun, a loud wail or outcry, in Shakespeare's Henry V.^[2][7]
• before 1616 – noun, the cry of a wolf or dog, in Macbeth.^[7]
• 1687 – of the wind or a storm.^[7]
• 1840 – howler, an animal that howls.^[2]
• 1872 – to howl down; in American slang, a loud complaint.^[7][18]
• 1890 – howler, a glaring blunder.^[2]
• 1921 – a howling noise from feedback in a loudspeaker.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. Of a dog, wolf or similar animal, to make a long, loud, mournful cry.^[13][11][7]
2. Of a person, to cry out loudly in pain, grief or anger; to wail.^[13][11][7]
3. Of the wind, to make a loud wailing noise: A gale howled round the cottage all night.^[13][7]
4. (informal) To shout, or to laugh loudly.^[13][11]
5. To say something with a howl, or, in howl down, to silence a speaker by shouting.^[13][7]

Noun

1. A long, loud, mournful cry of a dog or wolf, or a similar sound of the wind.^[13][11][7]
2. A loud cry of pain, grief or rage, or an outburst of laughter.^[13][11][7]
3. A loud protest or complaint.^[11][18]
4. (informal) A person or thing that is very funny.^[13][11]
5. (electronics) A high-pitched noise in a sound system caused by feedback.^[13][11][7]

Word family

• howler
• outhowl

Related words

• owl
• ululate

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
15. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
16. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
17. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
18. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
19. ^ 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)