pell

See also: Pell, Pëll, pell', and pełł

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛl

Etymology 1

From Latin pellis (“animal skin, pelt”), from Proto-Italic *pelnis, from Proto-Indo-European *pel-ni-. Distantly related to fell and film.

Noun

pell (plural pells)

1. A fur or hide.
2. A lined cloak or its lining.
3. A roll of parchment; a record kept on parchment.
   • 1835, Frederick Devon (editor and translator), Issue Roll of Thomas de Brantingham, Bishop of Exeter, Lord High Treasurer of England, Containing Payments Made out of His Majesty′s Revenue in the 44th Year of King Edward III.: A.D. 1370, page xi,

     The clerk of the pell (whose office is in the Lord Treasurer′s gift) keepeth the Pells in parchment, called Pelles Receptæ, wherein every teller′s bill, with his name on it, is to be entred; and under every such bill when it is entred, recordatur to be written in open court, for a controlment to charge the teller with so much money as in the said bill is set downe.

     He also anciently kept another pell, called Pellis Exitus, wherein every dayes issuing of any the moneys paid into the receipt, was to be entered, and by whom and by what warrant, privy seale, or bill, it was paid.

4. (Sussex) A body of water somewhere between a pond and a lake in size.
5. An upright post, often padded and covered in hide, used to practice strikes with bladed weapons such as swords or glaives.

Derived terms

• clerk of the pells

Related terms

• fell
• pelisse
• pellage
• pellagra
• pellicle
• pelt
• peltry

 

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

pell (third-person singular simple present pells, present participle pelling, simple past and past participle pelled)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To pelt; to knock about.
   • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book I.]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC:

     Beat and pell them downe with perches and poles.

See also

• pell-mell

Breton

Etymology

Cognate with Welsh pell (“far”).

Adverb

pell

1. far

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Old Catalan pell~peyl, from Latin pellem, from Proto-Italic *pelnis, from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to cover, wrap; skin, hide; cloth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈpeʎ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eʎ

Noun

pell f (plural pells)

1. (anatomy) skin
2. pelt

Derived terms

• espellar
• espellifar
• pell de gallina
• pelleter
• pellingot
• pellissa
• pellofa
• pellot

 

References

• “pell” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “pell”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “pell” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “pell” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

pell

1. singular imperative of pellen
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of pellen

Welsh

Etymology

Probably from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel-so-, from *kʷel- (“to turn; to revolve around, sojourn”). Compare Ancient Greek τέλος (télos, “end, boundary, completion”) for a similar semantic development from the same root.

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /pɛɬ/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /peːɬ/, /pɛɬ/
• Rhymes: -ɛɬ

Adjective

pell (feminine singular pell, plural pell, equative pelled, comparative pellach, superlative pellaf)

1. far, distant

Derived terms

• mor belled (“so far”)
• rheolydd pell (“remote control”)
• pellter (“distance”)

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
pell	bell	mhell	phell
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.