pool | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

61 entries found.

"small puddle, shallow pool, wet ground," Old English plæsc "pool of water, puddle," probably imitative (compare plash (v.1) and Dutch plass "pool"). Meaning "noise made by splashing" is recorded by 1510s. Related: Plashy.

Dublin

capital of Ireland, literally "black pool," from Irish dubh "black" + linn "pool." In reference to the dark waters of the River Liffey. Related: Dubliner.

weel (n.)

"deep pool," Old English wæl "whirlpool, eddy; pool; sea," cognate with West Frisian wiel, Old Low Frankish wal, Middle Dutch wael, German wehl, wehle.

natatorium (n.)

1890, a New Englandish word for "swimming pool, place for swimming," from Late Latin natatorium, from Latin natator "swimmer" (from nare "to swim") + -ium, neuter suffix. Latin nare is from PIE root *sna- "to swim." Middle English had natatorie "a pool, bath," early 14c., from Latin.

billabong (n.)

Australian, "backwater, stagnant pool," 1865, from Billibang, Aboriginal name of Bell River, from billa "water" + bang, which is of uncertain meaning.

mere (n.1)

"pool, small lake, pond," from Old English mere "sea, ocean; lake, pool, pond, cistern," from Proto-Germanic *mari (source also of Old Norse marr, Old Saxon meri "sea," Middle Dutch maer, Dutch meer "lake, sea, pool," Old High German mari, German Meer "sea," Gothic marei "sea," mari-saiws "lake"), from PIE root *mori- "body of water." The larger sense of "sea, arm of the sea" has been obsolete since Middle English. Century Dictionary reports it "Not used in the U.S. except artificially in some local names, in imitation of British names."

limno-

word-forming element used scientifically, "of or pertaining to lakes and fresh water," from Greek limne "pool of standing water, tidal pool, marsh, lake," a word of uncertain origin; the most likely guess is that it is related to Latin limus "mud," from PIE root *(s)lei- "slime" (see slime (n.)), via the notion of "moistness, standing water" [Beekes].

Siloam

pool and spring outside Jerusalem (John ix.7), from Late Latin, from New Testament Greek, from Hebrew shiloach, literally "sending forth," from shalach "to send."

swimming (n.)

late 14c., "act of propelling the body through water," verbal noun from swim (v.). Swimming hole is from 1855, American English; swimming pool is from 1881.

lough (n.)

"a lake, pool," early 14c., Anglo-Celtic, representing a northern form of Irish and Gaelic loch, Welsh llwch, from PIE *laku- (see lake (n.1), and compare loch).

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