whirl

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English whirlen, probably borrowed from Old Norse hvirfla (“to turn about, whirl”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} and the Middle English Dictionary and Dictionary.com state the Norse source without the hedge.^[9][10] The Norse verb is related to hvirfill (“circle, ring, crown of the head”),^[2][6][3] which is cognate with Middle Low German wervel and Middle Dutch wervel (“bolt, hinge, whirlwind”), Dutch wervel (“vertebra”), Old High German wirbil (“whirlwind”) and German Wirbel (“whirl, eddy, whirlpool”).^[3][5][2] Wiktionary reconstructs the noun as Proto-Germanic *hwirbilaz,^[1] a form Hoad gives with another spelling,^[7] and it belongs with *hwerbaną (“to turn, move around”), the source of hverfa (“to turn”), Old English hweorfan (“to turn, change”) and Gothic 𐍈𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌱𐌰𐌽 (ƕairban, “to go around”).^[11][1] Skeat took the Norse verb as a frequentative of hverfa.^[12] Old English had related forms such as hwyrflung (“turning, revolving”),^[10][9] but the OED thinks that its verbs of this family, hwearflian and hwyrftlian (“to rotate”), did not survive.^[2] The noun, whirle, comes from the verb according to Merriam-Webster Unabridged, Barnhart and Etymonline,^[5][3][6] while the OED, the Shorter Oxford and Klein take it as partly from the verb and partly from wervel or hvirfill.^[2][8][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

To move in a circle or about in various directions, especially with force: about 1290, in the South English Legendary,^[2] where a knight is caught in a gust: Þe kniȝt ȝwirlede op in þis blast (dated about 1300 in the Middle English Dictionary).^[9] Barnhart also gives about 1300, with the spelling whirlen from about 1380,^[3] and Etymonline about 1300.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was loose circling or erratic movement; turning around an axis, as a wheel does, is recorded from about 1384, in Chaucer's House of Fame, and the transitive "to make rotate" from before 1400.^[2] Speed came next: to carry along swiftly from about 1386, in Chaucer's Squire's Tale, and to rush along from about 1400, in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.^[2] The sense "to throw, hurl", from about 1440, shows contamination with hurl, according to the OED.^[2] Chaucer has the verb five times.^[14] The turning of the head, "to feel giddy", follows in 1561.^[2][3] The noun began with a concrete object, the flywheel or pulley of a spindle (1411), the same thing as a whorl.^[2][3][6] The act of whirling appears in the late 15th century,^[6][3] a thing moving in that way by the 1540s, and confused activity from the 1550s.^[6] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as "gyration; quick rotation".^[15] American English added the colloquial "attempt", as in give it a whirl, attested from 1884 according to Etymonline;^[6] Green's Dictionary of Slang has "a chance, a go" from 1903 and "an outing" from 1911.^[16] In dialect, the English Dialect Dictionary records compounds such as whirl-barrow (a wheelbarrow) and whirl-bone (the hip joint or kneecap), and forms such as wharl and whurl.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1290 – verb, to move in a circle or about in various directions.^[2]
• c. 1384 – to turn rapidly around an axis, to spin.^[2]
• c. 1386 – transitive, to carry or drive along swiftly.^[2]
• before 1400 – transitive, to make something rotate.^[2]
• c. 1400 – intransitive, to go swiftly, rush along.^[2]
• 1411 – noun, the flywheel or pulley of a spindle.^[2][3]
• c. 1440 – to throw or fling.^[2]
• before 1505 – noun, the act of whirling, rapid rotating movement.^[2] Barnhart dates it to about 1480.^[3]
• 1540s – noun, something moving with a rapid rotating motion.^[6]
• 1550s – noun, confused activity.^[6]
• 1561 – of the head or brain, to be giddy.^[2][3]
• 1714 – noun, in botany and zoology, a whorl.^[2]
• 1884 – noun, in American colloquial use, an attempt, a try.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To move or turn in a circle or curve, especially quickly: Dry leaves whirled around the courtyard.^[18][5][2]
2. To make something turn or spin rapidly.^[18][2]
3. To turn round or aside quickly.^[18][2]
4. To move, or carry something, along at high speed.^[18][2]
5. Of the head, to feel giddy or dizzy: My head was whirling after the long flight.^[18][2]

Noun

1. A rapid rotating or circling movement.^[18][5][2]
2. Something moving in this way; a vortex or eddy.^[5][6]
3. A state of confusion or giddiness: The news left her in a whirl.^[18]
4. A swift round of events or activities; tumult, stir.^[18][6]
5. (informal) A short trip or outing.^[18][16]
6. (informal) A try, especially in give it a whirl.^[18][6][16]
7. A whorl, especially the flywheel or pulley of a spindle.^[5][2]

Word family

• whirler
• whirlingly
• outwhirl
• upwhirl
• whirlabout
• unwhirled
• awhirl
• whirligig
• whirlpool
• whirlwind

Related words

• whorl
• wharf
• wharve

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c 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)
10. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
14. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b c 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)
18. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins