† wiflen.

Etymology: Cognate with Old Icelandic vifl (Icelandic vífl ), Norwegian regional vevl , both in sense ‘cudgel, stick, washing bat’ < a suffixed form (compare -le suffix 1) of an ablaut variant (zero-grade) of the Germanic base of waive v.² (with original sense ‘to move to and fro, to shake’).Compare also Old English wifer missile, arrow, dart, probably ultimately from the same base as wifel with a different suffix. Both words are rare in Old English and attested only in glosses to Aldhelm. A parallel formation (with the equivalent of -le suffix 3) from the o -grade of the same base is shown by Middle Dutch weifelen (Dutch regional weifelen ), Middle Low German weifelen , early modern German weibeln (now regional), all in sense ‘to move to and fro, sway, wobble, waver’; compare also Old High German weibil court official, usher (Middle High German weibel , German Weibel ), a deverbative formation (with the equivalent of -le suffix 1) from Old High German weibōn to go here and there. See further waive v.²