Wealu

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic Old English term for a raised mark or ridge left on the skin by a blow or lash
2. A historical word for the swollen welt or stripe that a stroke of a whip or rod leaves behind
3. An early English noun describing a raised, ridge-like scar or mark produced on the flesh by striking

Etymology: In Old English, "wealu" meant a raised ridge or welt, most often the mark a blow leaves on the skin. The same root gave English two spellings with separate later lives. "Weal" kept the bodily sense of a raised stripe from a whip or cane, while "wale" came to mean a ridge in fabric, such as the raised lines in corduroy, and a horizontal timber or plank along a ship's side. The root goes back to Proto-Germanic and is related to other Germanic words for a rod, staff, or ridge, including Old Norse "vǫlr" and Dutch "waal." Because the sense is a raised line, the same idea of a ridge or stripe runs through all the descendants, from the welt on a body to the ribbing on cloth.