Howelynge

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. An archaic term for the act of making a long, loud, mournful cry, as a wolf or a person in grief might do
2. A Middle English word for the prolonged wailing sound produced by a person or animal in pain or distress
3. Describing the loud, drawn-out wailing or crying that rises from a throat in sorrow, fear, or pain

Etymology: This is a medieval spelling of "howling," the noun for a long, mournful cry, and it comes from the verb "howl." Middle English "houlen" descends from Old English "hūlian," which was imitative: the sound of the word mimics the sound of the cry. Its spelling shifted over the centuries, with the vowel and the final "-ynge" gradually giving way to the modern "howling," which combines "howl" with the "-ing" ending that turns a verb into a noun. The Latin verb "ululare," meaning to wail or shriek, looks similar, but the resemblance is coincidental. Both words are imitative, built from the same kind of cry-like sounds, and neither was borrowed from the other.