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Origin and history of billow

billow(n.)

"a great wave or surge of the sea," 1550s, perhaps older in dialectal use (but not recorded in Middle English), from Old Norse bylgja "a wave, a billow," from Proto-Germanic *bulgjan (source also of Swedish bölja, Danish bölge "a billow," Middle High German bulge "a billow; a bag"), from PIE *bhelgh- "to swell," extended form of root *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell."

also from 1550s

billow(v.)

"to rise or roll in large waves," 1590s, from billow (n.). Related: Billowed; billowing.

also from 1590s

Entries linking to billow

billowy(adj.)

"swelling into large waves; having an appearance or effect as of billows," 1610s, from billow (n.) + -y (2). Related: Billowiness.

*bhel-(2)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to blow, swell," "with derivatives referring to various round objects and to the notion of tumescent masculinity" [Watkins].

It might form all or part of: bale (n.) "large bundle or package of merchandise prepared for transportation;" baleen; ball (n.1) "round object, compact spherical body;" balloon; ballot; bawd; bold; bole; boll; bollocks; bollix; boulder; boulevard; bowl (n.) "round pot or cup;" bulk; bull (n.1) "bovine male animal;" bullock; bulwark; follicle; folly; fool; foosball; full (v.) "to tread or beat cloth to cleanse or thicken it;" ithyphallic; pall-mall; phallus.

It might also be the source of: Greek phyllon "leaf," phallos "swollen penis;" Latin flos "flower," florere "to blossom, flourish," folium "leaf;" Old Prussian balsinis "cushion;" Old Norse belgr "bag, bellows;" Old English bolla "pot, cup, bowl;" Old Irish bolgaim "I swell," blath "blossom, flower," bolach "pimple," bolg "bag;" Breton bolc'h "flax pod;" Serbian buljiti "to stare, be bug-eyed;" Serbo-Croatian blazina "pillow."

An extended form of the root, *bhelgh- "to swell," forms all or part of: bellows; belly; bilge; billow; bolster; budget; bulge; Excalibur; Firbolgs.

An extended form of the root, *bhleu- "to swell, well up, overflow," forms all or part of: affluent; bloat; confluence; effluent; effluvium; efflux; fluctuate; fluent; fluid; flume; fluor; fluorescence; fluoride; fluoro-; flush (v.1) "spurt, rush out suddenly, flow with force;" fluvial; flux; influence; influenza; influx; mellifluous; phloem; reflux; superfluous.

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Trends of billow

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

balloon

1570s, "a game played with a large inflated leather ball tossed, batted, or kicked back and forth," also the ball itself (1590s), from Italian pallone "large ball," from palla "ball," from a Germanic source akin to Langobardic palla (from Proto-Germanic *ball-, from PIE root *bhe

inflate

early 15c., "cause to swell," from Latin inflatus (source also of Italian enfiare, Spanish inflar, French enfler), past participle of inflare "blow into, puff up," figuratively "inspire, encourage," from in- "into" (from PIE root *en "in") + flare "to blow" (according to Watkins

surge

late 15c. (Caxton), "fountain, spring of water" (a sense now obsolete), a word of uncertain origin, probably from French sourge-, stem of sourdre "to rise, swell," from Latin surgere "to rise, arise, get up, mount up, ascend; attack," contraction of surrigere, from assimilated fo

wave

"moving billow of water," 1520s, alteration (by influence of wave (v.)) of Middle English waw, which is from Old English...Proto-Germanic *wag- (source also of Old Saxon, Old High German wag, Old Frisian weg, Old Norse vagr "water in motion, wave, billow...The usual Old English word for "moving billow of water" was yð....

undine

from Modern Latin Undina (1650s), coined by Paracelsus ("De Nymphis") in his alchemical system, from Latin unda "a wave, billow...

vogue

Compare Old High German wagon "to float, fluctuate," literally "to balance oneself;" German Woge "wave, billow," wogen "fluctuate...

belly

, pouch, pod, husk, bellows," from Proto-Germanic *balgiz "bag" (source also of Old Norse belgr "bag, bellows," bylgja "billow...

travel

late 14c., "to journey," from travailen (1300) "to make a journey," originally "to toil, labor" (see travail). The semantic development may have been via the notion of "go on a difficult journey," but it also may reflect the difficulty of any journey in the Middle Ages. Replaced

heave

Old English hebban "to lift, raise; lift up, exalt" (class VI strong verb; past tense hof, past participle hafen), from Proto-Germanic *hafjan (source also of Old Norse hefja, Dutch heffen, German heben, Gothic hafjan "to lift, raise"), from PIE *kap-yo-, from root *kap- "to gras

move

late 13c., meven, in various senses (see below), from Anglo-French mover, Old French movoir "to move, get moving, set out; set in motion; introduce" (Modern French mouvoir), from Latin movere "move, set in motion; remove; disturb" (past participle motus, frequentative motare), fr

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Dictionary entries near billow

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