Etymology

The ME v. is usually derived straightforwardly in all its meanings from OE dwellan ‘to lead into error, mislead, deceive; lead from, seduce from; be wrong, err’ (thus OED, MED, TGD, GDS). Yet verbal derivatives on PGmc *ðwel-, *ðwal- are widely attested in N and WGmc and also include wk. 1 OE gedwellan ‘to lead astray (intellectually, morally), deceive, mislead’, next to OIcel dvelja ‘to keep/hold back, detain, stall, impede; delay, defer; tarry, hesitate; stay, reside, dwell’ (etc.) (cp. OFris dwelia ‘to be mistaken’, OS bidwellian ‘to hinder’, OHG twellen ‘to stop, halt’), and wk. 2 OE dwelian, gedwelian ‘to go astray, wander; lead astray’ (cp. OHG twaljan, twallen). ON input has been suggested (Coleridge 1859: 27, Bj. 236, Rynell and ODEE) because while it is possible to explain the sense ‘to dwell, to live’ as a development of earlier, native usages, the senses attested for OE all focus on the idea of ‘error’, and the ‘dwell’ meaning is paralleled only in ON (recorded twice from the 14c. in ONP).

PGmc Ancestor

*ðwaljan-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

dvelja ‘to keep/hold back, detain, stall, impede; delay, defer; tarry, hesitate; stay, reside, dwell (etc.)'
(ONP dvelja (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far dvølja, Icel dvelja, Norw dvelja, Dan dvæle, OSw dvälia

OE Cognate

dwellan ‘to lead into error, mislead, deceive; lead from, seduce from; be wrong, err’; cp. gedwellan ‘to lead astray (intellectually, morally), deceive, mislead’, dwelian, gedwelian ‘to go astray, wander; lead astray’ 

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

CC3

Attestation

Common and widespread in ME, from Orrm onwards (most of MED’s senses carry some implication of remaining, lingering, sojourning etc.).

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 566, 1075, 1082; Cl 158, 376, 1196, etc.; Pa 69, 422; Erk 10; WA 830, 912, 1045, etc.

Bibliography

MED dwellen (v.) , OED dwell (v.) , HTOED , Dance dowelle, ODEE dwell, Bj. 183n.1, 236, de Vries dvelja, Mag. dvelja, Bj-L. dvele, Seebold -dwel-a-, Orel *ðwaljanan; *ðwelanan, Kroonen *dwaljan-; *dwelan- AEW *dwelan; dwellian; dwellan, DOE dwelian; gedwelian; dwellan; gedwellan; gedwolen