Whelm originates from Old English and it means to overturn or capsize a hollow vessel (a boat, a heart); to bury by wave, flood, storm, avalanche. The etymology is from the Old English hwelfan, to ‘upheave’. This explains the modern use of “overwhelmed” and “underwhelmed”.
No voice divine the storm allay’d,
No light propitious shone;
When, snatch’d from all effectual aid,
We perish’d, each alone:
But I beneath a rougher sea,
And whelm’d in deeper gulfs than he.
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Never thought of whelm being a word unto itself. I should have—can’t remember ever seeing it in type though
Yes, it has a lovely sound to it. There is something reminiscent of wind to the word whelm…at least I can hear wind in the word.
Think it’s the breathy ‘wh’ at the start…
Yep 😁