whale

Pronunciation

• IPA: /weɪl/, /hweɪl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English hwæl (before 899, in Alfred's Orosius),^[2][3][4] from *hwalaz,^[2][3] cognate with Old Saxon hwal, Dutch walvis, German Wal, Walfisch, and Old Norse hvalr;^[2][3][4] Barnhart derives it from an Indo-European word for a large sea fish,^[2] and Merriam-Webster compares Latin squalus, a sea fish.^[5] The modern form continues the oblique cases of Old English hwæl.^[4] walrus contains the same word.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Any of the larger fish-like marine mammals: about 893.^[6][2] In Old English it could also mean a walrus.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In popular use it was applied to any large sea animal,^[3] and since Old English to the great fish that swallowed Jonah (about 950).^[6][3] The verb, to hunt whales, is from about 1700,^[2][3][5] and whale-fishing from the 1570s.^[3] Whale oil is from the mid-15th century and whaleboat by 1756.^[3] A whale of a, an excellent or large example of something, is student slang by about 1900.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 893 – the sea mammal.^[6]
• c. 950 – Jonah's whale.^[6]
• mid-15th century – whale oil.^[3]
• c. 1700 – to whale (verb).^[2][3]
• c. 1900 – a whale of a time.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A very large marine mammal of the order Cetacea, with flippers, a flat horizontal tail and a blowhole.
2. (informal) Something very large or impressive: a whale of a time.

Verb

1. To hunt whales.

Word family

• whalelike

Related words

• narwhal
• rorqual
• walrus
• whalebone
• whaler

Usage notes

A separate colloquial verb whale, to beat or thrash (1790), is possibly a variant of wale, to mark with stripes;^[2][3] Merriam-Webster calls it of unknown origin.^[5]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press