Pronounced: BAH-kuhl (alt: BO-kuhl), noun, verb
Notes: Because of where I grew up, I cannot easily distinguish between a short “o” and the “ah” sounds (more in tomorrow’s comments)
Yesterday’s word
The word whelm means
- to turn upside down usually to cover something
- to overcome in thought or feeling; overwhelm
First usage
Our word came into English in the mid-1200s
Background / Comments
Both whelm and “overwhelm” have had similar definitions through the bulk of their life: these days, however, whelm is a lesser state compared to “overwhelm”. The idea of covering something is associated with our word, but not “overwhelm”. It came from Middle English word whelmem, which is thought to be a blend of whelve, which came from the Old English word gehwelfan (to bend over) and the verb helm, which came from the Old English helmian (to cover).
