Where does “quāle” come from?
quāle (Middle High German) comes from Old High German quāla, from Proto-West Germanic kwalu, from Proto-Germanic kwalō, from Proto-Germanic kwaljaną, from Proto-Germanic -janą, from Proto-Indo-European -yéti, from Proto-Indo-European yé-, from Chichewa iye — he, she.
Ancestry of “quāle”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old High German | quāla | violent death; torment, suffering |
| 2 | Proto-West Germanic | kwalu | torture |
| 3 | Proto-Germanic | kwalō | suffering, pain |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | kwaljaną | to make suffer, to hurt |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | -janą | Derives denominatives from nouns and factitives... |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 8 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |