Etymology: Old English wælm (wielm, etc.; also in ǽ-wielm spring), strong masculine a gushing, swirling of (boiling) liquids; boiling; heat, etc. = modern West Frisian wâlm(e smoke, vapour, modern Flemish (dialect) walm, wolm, wave bubble, a gushing, etc., Dutch walm, Low German walm smoke, Old High German, Middle High German walm, strong masculine heat, passion, German (dialect) walm ebullition, boiling, whirlpool, Middle Danish valm, volm heat < Old Germanic *walmi-z, a derivative of *wel- (compare Old Norse olmr raging < *walmo-, ylja to warm < *wuljan, ylr warmth, affection, < *wuli-z, Gothic wulan to be fervent), the radical sense of which is doubtful. In the sequence of senses here adopted it is assumed that the notion of surging motion was the original, from which, through the idea of boiling, was developed the idea of heat. In this case *wel- is perhaps related to pre-Germanic *wel(ū) to roll, see wallow n., etc. It is possible that two originally distinct radical elements became confused in Germanic. See wall v.¹, to which this word serves as a noun of action.

Etymology: < walm n., possibly representing an unrecorded Old English derivative *wælman (*wielman, etc.). Compare modern Flemish (dialect) walmen to boil, bubble, Dutch walmen to smoke, German (dialect) walmen to boil, welmen to undulate, well up, flame up. This verb appears to have become confused (esp. in the β forms) with whelm v. The relationship of wamble v. is obscure but may depend upon a transposition of the l . Compare wamble , whammel , whemmel etc. = whelm v.