Wal

See also: Appendix:Variations of "wal"

English

Proper noun

Wal (plural Wals)

1. A male given name
   1. A diminutive of the male given name Wally
   2. A diminutive of the male given name Wallace
   3. A diminutive of the male given name Walter

See also

• Waal
• Wahl
• Wall
• Walle
• Whal

 

German

Etymology

The root descends from Middle High German and Old High German wal, from Proto-West Germanic *hwal, from Proto-Germanic *hwalaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kʷálos (“sheatfish”). Cognates include English whale, German Low German Waal, Icelandic hvalur, Danish hval, Swedish val.

Although the simplex root also existed in earlier historical stages of German, Grimm claims that the simplex had fallen out of used by Early New High German and was used exclusively in the compounds such as Walfisch and Narwal. The simplex later reappeared in the course of the 19th century, at first in the domain of scientific literature, as a back-formation from Walfisch. Compare also Dutch walvis, Low German Waalfisch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vaːl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: Wahl
• Rhymes: -aːl

Noun

Wal m (strong, genitive Wales or Wals, plural Wale)

1. whale

   Synonym: (dated) Walfisch

Declension

Declension of Wal [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Wal	die	Wale
genitive	eines	des	Wales, Wals	der	Wale
dative	einem	dem	Wal, Wale1	den	Walen
accusative	einen	den	Wal	die	Wale

¹Now rare, see notes.

Derived terms

• Narwal
• Walfisch
• Walrat
• Walross

 

Descendants

• → Estonian: vaal
• → Luxembourgish: Wal

Further reading

• “Wal” in Duden online
• “Wal” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Wal” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.

Luxembourgish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vaːl/
• Rhymes: -aːl

Etymology 1

From German Wal, from Old High German wal, from Proto-West Germanic *hwal, from Proto-Germanic *hwalaz. Compare Dutch walvis, English whale, Danish hval, Icelandic hvalur.

Noun

Wal m (plural Walen)

1. whale

Etymology 2

From German Wahl, from Old High German wala, from Proto-West Germanic *walu, from Proto-Germanic *walō. The related terms below are inherited.

Alternative forms

• Wahl (nonstandard, but sometimes used to distinguish from etymology 1)

Noun

Wal f (plural Walen)

1. (politics) election

Related terms

• Wiel
• wielen

Etymology 3

From Old High German wald, from Proto-West Germanic *walþu, from Proto-Germanic *walþuz. Cognate with German Wald, Dutch woud, English wold.

Noun

Wal m (uncountable)

1. (in field names, otherwise obsolete) forest

   Synonym: Bësch

Plautdietsch

Noun

Wal f (plural Walen)

1. wave (of water)