An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Wolle

by Friedrich Kluge

Wolle, feminine, ‘wool, down,’ from the equivalent Middle High German wolle, Old High German wolla, feminine; corresponding to Gothic wulla, Anglo-Saxon wull, English wool, Dutch wol. Teutonic wullô-, from pre-Teutonic wlná (for ll from ln see Welle and voll), corresponding the Aryan languages to Sanscrit ûrṇâ, Old Slovenian vlŭna, Lithuanian vílna, ‘wool’; in Latin villus, vellus. Sanscrit ũrṇâ is connected with a root vṛ, ‘to cover, wrap’ (present ûrṇõmi); hence Welle (Aryan wlnâ) meant literally ‘that which covers.’ Greek εἰρος, ἔριον, ‘wool,’ cannot be related to the common Aryan cognates (root wel).