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lull

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Etymology and origin of the English word lull

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Onomatopoeia
First attested
1325 before 1325, a gloss in Bibbesworth
From
Middle English lullen

Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lullen,[2][3][4] probably imitative of the sounds “lu-lu” sung to put a child to sleep.[5][4][6][7][2] Similar words are Swedish lulla (“to hum a lullaby”), Danish lulle and Norwegian lulle,[5][3] Middle Dutch lollen (“to mutter, doze”),[5][3][8] Dutch lullen (“to prattle”),[5][3][9] Middle Low German lollen and German lullen (“to lull, rock”),[3][4] and in other branches Lithuanian leliúoti (“to rock”) and a Sanskrit verb meaning "moves to and fro".[3][8][4] Ayto doubts how far these words are connected, but traces them all to repetitions of “lu” or “la”,[9] and the OED compares the similar Latin lallō (“to sing to sleep”).[5][10] American Heritage takes the word as possibly from Low German.[11] Barnhart and Klein connect it with an Indo-European imitative base Proto-Indo-European *lel-, *lul-.[3][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

To soothe a baby to sleep: before 1325, as an English gloss in the Bibbesworth text.[2][3] The OED's first record is Chaucer's Clerk's Tale (about 1386).[5]

Semantic evolution

From soothing a child the verb widened in the 16th century to figurative calming (1576),[5][4] and about 1600 to quieting someone's suspicion in order to deceive.[5][4] In Middle English it could also mean to fondle a baby or to charm someone into forgetfulness.[2] From 1680 it was used of calming winds and the sea; from 1808 it was also intransitive, used of the sea or wind growing calm.[5] The noun began in the mid-17th century as the name of a soothing drink,[5][4][10] and in slang lull was ale (about 1636).[13] By 1719–21 it meant something that soothes, such as a lulling sound,[5][8][3] and the sense of a brief calm in a storm is recorded from 1815,[5] though Etymonline finds a figurative lull of resentment in 1751 and the literal sailors' use by 1778.[4] The word also gave lullaby in the 16th century.[6][9]

Timeline

  • before 1325 – to hush a child to sleep.[2][3]
  • c. 1386 – to soothe with sounds or caresses, in Chaucer.[5]
  • 1576 – figurative.[5][4]
  • 1601 – to quiet suspicion by deception.[5]
  • c. 1636 – noun, slang, ale.[13]
  • 1659 – noun, a soothing drink (obsolete).[5]
  • 1680 – to calm winds or the sea.[5]
  • 1721 – noun, something that lulls, a lulling sound.[5] Merriam-Webster and Barnhart date it to 1719.[5][8][3]
  • 1751 – noun, a lull in a feeling, figurative.[4]
  • 1808 – intransitive, of the sea or wind, to grow calm.[5]
  • 1815 – noun, a brief calm in a storm.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To soothe a person or animal with gentle sounds or motions, especially to send to sleep: The hum of the engine lulled the baby to sleep.[14][11][8]
  2. To calm someone's fears or suspicions, especially in order to deceive; to make someone feel falsely secure.[14][11][8]
  3. To bring winds or waves to a state of calm.[8][5]
  4. Of wind or sea, to become calm.[11][5]

Noun

  1. A short period of calm, as in a storm: There was a lull in the gale towards dawn.[11][14][5]
  2. A temporary drop in activity: a lull in trading.[11][8][14]
  3. (archaic) Something that lulls or soothes, such as a lullaby.[8][5]

Word family

  • loll
  • Lollard

Usage notes

A separate noun lull, in whaling a tube through which blubber was passed into the ship's hold, is from Dutch lul (“tube”) (1836).[5][8][7] The OED also records an obsolete verb lull, to pull someone about by the ears (1530–68), of unknown origin.[5]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b 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 e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  13. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Lull.” Etymologically, 2 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/lull. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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