Etymology
1. O.E.
belle, common North Sea Gmc. (cf. M.Du.
belle, M.L.G.
belle) but not found elsewhere in Gmc. (except as a borrowing), from PIE base
*bhel- "to sound, roar."
Bellhop is a 1910 shortening of
bellhopper (1900), from the notion of hopping to action at the ring of the bell.
Bell-boy was originally (1851) a ship's bell-ringer, later (1861) a hotel page.
Bell-wether (c.1440; see wether) was "the leading sheep of a flock, on whose neck a bell is hung;" used earlier in the fig. sense of "chief, leader" (c.1430).
Bell-bottomed trousers first recorded 1891.
Bell, book, and candle is a reference to a form of excommunication. To
ring a bell "awaken a memory," 1934, is perhaps a reference to Pavlovian experiments.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-der.
4. Proto-Germanic *bellǭ
5. Proto-West Germanic *bellā
6. Old English belle
7. Middle English belle
8. English bell
9. Inherited from Middle English belle, from Old English belle, from Proto-West Germanic *bellā, from Proto-Germanic *bellǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-.
10. Cognate with West Frisian belle, bel (“bell”), Dutch bel (“bell”), Low German Belle, Bel (“bell”), Danish bjælde (“bell”), Faroese bjølla (“bell”), Icelandic bjalla (“bell”), Norwegian bjelle (“bell”), Swedish bjällra (“bell”). See: Danish '
bjælde', Faroese '
bjølla', Icelandic '
bjalla', Swedish '
bjällra'.
Verbs referencing "bell"
Norwegian, nynorsk
bjølle.