Where does “whalefall” come from?

whalefall (English) comes from English whale, from Middle English whal, from Old English hwæl, from Proto-West Germanic hwal, from Proto-Germanic hwalaz, from Proto-Indo-European (s)kʷálos — large fish; sheatfish.

whalefall (English): A whale carcass that has fallen to the ocean...

Definitions

  1. A whale carcass that has fallen to the ocean...

Ancestry of “whalefall”, step by step

whalefall traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English whale

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishwhaleAny of several species of large sea mammals of...
2Middle EnglishwhalA whale or cetacean
3Old Englishhwæla whale
4Proto-West Germanichwalwhale
5Proto-Germanichwalazwhale, sheatfish
6Proto-Indo-European(s)kʷáloslarge fish; sheatfish

via English fall

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Englishfall"To be moved downwards."; "To move downwards.";...
2Middle Englishfall—
3Old EnglishfeallAlternative form of fiell
4Proto-Germanicfallą—
5Proto-Indo-European(s)pōl-to fall
Every word from Proto-Indo-European (s)kʷálos →Every word from Proto-Germanic hwalaz →Every word from Proto-West Germanic hwal →