wełna (Polish)
Where does "wełna" come from?
The Polish word 'wełna', meaning wool, traces its ancient lineage back to the Proto-Indo-European term *h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂. It evolved through Proto-Balto-Slavic and Proto-Slavic into Old Polish before arriving at its modern form. This linguistic ancestor is remarkably widespread, sharing roots with English 'wool', German 'Wolle', and the Latin-derived 'laine' and 'lana' found in several Romance languages.
Full etymology tree
- wełna (Polish), 'wool'
- inherited wełna (Old Polish)
- inherited *vьlna (Proto-Slavic), 'wool'
- inherited *wílˀnāˀ (Proto-Balto-Slavic), 'wool'
- inherited *h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂ (Proto-Indo-European), 'wool'
- compound *h₂welh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to rule'
- influence *welh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to choose'
- influence *HweRdʰ- (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited वर्धते (várdhate) (Sanskrit), 'to elevate, exalt, praise'
- suffix *-néh₂ (Proto-Indo-European), 'Creates deverbal nouns, often abstract'
- compound *h₂welh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to rule'
- inherited *h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂ (Proto-Indo-European), 'wool'
- inherited *wílˀnāˀ (Proto-Balto-Slavic), 'wool'
- inherited *vьlna (Proto-Slavic), 'wool'
- inherited wełna (Old Polish)
Ancestors
- *h₂welh₁- (Proto-Indo-European)
- *vьlna (Proto-Slavic)
- *wílˀnāˀ (Proto-Balto-Slavic)
- *h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂ (Proto-Indo-European)
Cognates and doublets
- wool (English)
- laine (French)
- Wolle (German)
- lana (Italian)
- flanela (Polish)
- lanugo (Polish)
- lana (Spanish)
Descendants and derived words
- wełniany (Polish)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris