Skip to content

sowl

noun

No English definition recorded for this entry.

L307299 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /səʊl/ / /soʊl/

noun

Etymology: From Middle English soul, soule, sowel, sawel (“soul”). See further at soul.

  1. Archaic spelling of soul.

    “[W]here in tyme past wthin the p[ar]ish chirch of new Wyndesor hath ben kept yerely on Trinite Sunday an obitt wᵗʰ mass of requiem on the moro next followᵍ for the Sowles of all the Brethren and sisters of the Trinite brotherhood there, wᶜʰ tyme out of mynde hath bene usyd, the said Andrew for th' inlarging of the sᵈ anniv[er]sary or obiit for more merytte to all the seyd sowls and for the well of all his good friends sowls hath gyven to the wardens of the sᵈ fraternite or Brotherhood to the brothern and systers of the same frat[er]nite and to their successors for ev[er] a certaine tenem[en]t in new Wyndsor […]”

    “Of yowr cherity pray for the ſowls of Reynald Peckham the elder, Squire for the body of the moſt excellent Prince king Henry the eight, who deceſed 27 Feb. 1525. and for the ſowl of Ioice Colepeper his wife which deceſed 20. March, 1523.”

verb

Etymology: From Middle English sōlen (“to become dirty or soiled; to make dirty, soil; to be defiled, polluted”), from Old English solian (“to make or become foul, sully”), from Proto-Germanic *sulwōną, *sulwijaną; compare sullow and sully, and Danish søle (“to make dirty, defile”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐍃𐌰𐌿𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (bisauljan, “to bemire”), Middle Dutch soluwen, seulewen (“to besmirch, soil”), Old French soillier, souillier, soller (“to dirty, stain; to tarnish (a reputation, etc.)”) (modern French souiller), Old High German solagōn, bisullen (“to make dirty”), German suhlen (“to make dirty, soil”), Old Saxon sulian (“to mire, soil”), West Flemish sowelen, suwelen.

  1. To soil or stain; to dirty.