Welf
/wɛlf/noun
A member of the German princely House of Welf, also known in English as the House of Guelph.
Did you know?The House of Welf supplied the Hanoverian dynasty that ruled Britain from George I through Victoria, linking a word associated with a young animal to the British crown.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
Germanic
*welpą
“Young animal or cub”
Old High German
Old High German
welf
“Young dog or puppy”
Medieval German
Middle High German
Welf
“Dynastic personal name derived from the ancestral House of Welf”
12th Century
Latin
Guelfi
“The Welf dynasty, rendered in Latin sources”
13th Century
English
Guelph
“English form of the dynastic name”
Modern English
English
Welf
“A member or descendant of the House of Welf”