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Origin and history of yawl

yawl(n.)

type of ship's boat, 1660s, apparently from Middle Low German jolle or Dutch jol "a Jutland boat" (according to a 1708 source), a word of uncertain origin. Also borrowed into French (yole), Italian (jolo), Russian (yal). Compare jolly-boat.

yawl(v.)

late 14c., "cry out loudly," from pain, grief, or distress; imitative. By 1540s as "call out, shout, bawl." Related: Yawled; yawling. Compare yowl.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to yawl

jolly-boat(n.)

"small boat hoisted at the stern of a vessel," 1727; the jolly is of unknown origin, probably from Danish jolle (17c.) or Dutch jol (1680s), both related to yawl; or it may be from Middle English jolywat (late 15c.) "a ship's small boat," of unknown origin.

yowl(v.)

"give a long, distressful or mournful cry," c. 1200, youlen, yuhelen, probably of imitative origin (compare jubilant). Related: Yowled; yowler; yowling. The noun is recorded from mid-15c.

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    Trends of yawl

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

    More to explore

    dandy
    "man who draws attention by unusual finery of dress and fastidiousness manners, a fop," c. 1780, of uncertain origin; attested earliest in a Scottish border ballad: I've heard my granny crack O' sixty twa years back When there were sic a stock of Dandies O etc. In that regi
    roar
    Middle English roren, "shout out, cry out with a full, loud, continued sound," from Old English rarian "roar, wail, lament, bellow, cry," probably of imitative origin (compare Middle Dutch reeren, German röhren "to roar;" Sanskrit ragati "barks;" Lithuanian rieju, rieti "to scold
    marine
    records that, among sailors, marines are "a proverbially gullible lot, capable of swallowing any yarn, in size varying from a yawl-boat...
    jolly
    c. 1300 (late 13c. as a surname, late 14c. as the name of a dog), "merry, cheerful, naturally of a happy disposition; comical; suggesting joy or merriment," from Old French jolif "festive, merry; amorous; pretty" (12c., Modern French joli "pretty, nice"), a word of uncertain orig
    shout
    c. 1300, shouten, schowten "to call or cry out loudly," a word of unknown origin; perhaps from the root of shoot (v.) on the notion of "throw the voice out loudly," or related to Old Norse skuta "a taunt" (compare scout (v.2)); both of which are reconstructed to be from PIE root
    south
    Old English suþ "southward, to or toward the south, southern, in the south," from Proto-Germanic *sunthaz, perhaps literally "sun-side" (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian suth "southward, in the south," Middle Dutch suut, Dutch zuid, German Süden), and related to base of *sun
    yell
    Old English giellan (West Saxon), gellan (Mercian) "to yell, sound, shout," class III strong verb (past tense geal, past participle gollen), from Proto-Germanic *gel- (source also of Old Norse gjalla "to resound," Middle Dutch ghellen, Dutch gillen, Old High German gellan, German
    cry
    mid-13c., "yell (something) out, utter" (transitive); c. 1300, "beg, implore; speak earnestly and loudly; advertise by calling out," from Old French crier, from Vulgar Latin *critare, from Latin quiritare "to wail, shriek" (source of Italian gridare, Old Spanish cridar, Spanish a
    call
    mid-13c., "cry out; call for, summon, invoke; ask for, demand, order; give a name to, apply by way of designation," from Old Norse kalla "cry loudly, summon in a loud voice; name, call by name," from Proto-Germanic *kall- (source also of Middle Dutch kallen "speak, say, tell," Du
    scream
    late Old English, scræmen, scremen, "utter a piercing cry, cry out with a shrill voice," a word of uncertain origin, similar to words in Scandinavian, Dutch, German, and Flemish (such as Old Norse skræma "to terrify, scare away," skramsa "to scream;" Swedish scrana "to scream," M

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