Whirl
Middle English: the verb probably from Old Norse hvirfla ‘turn about’; the noun partly from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch wervel ‘spindle’, or from Old Norse hvirfill ‘circle’, from a Germanic base meaning ‘rotate’.
wiktionary
From Middle English whirlen, contracted from earlier *whervelen, possibly from Old English *hweorflian, frequentative form of Old English hweorfan(“to turn”), itself from Proto-Germanic *hwerbaną(“turn”); or perhaps from Old Norse hvirfla(“to go round, spin”). Cognate with Dutch wervelen(“to whirl, swirl”), German wirbeln(“to whirl, swirl”), Danish hvirvle(“to whirl”), Swedish virvla (older spelling hvirfla), Albanian vorbull(“a whirl”). Related to whirr and wharve.
etymonline
whirl (v.)
c. 1300, probably from Old Norse hvirfla "to go round, spin," related to hvirfill "circle, ring, crown," and to Old English hweorfan "to turn" (see wharf). Related: Whirled; whirling. Whirlybird "helicopter" is from 1951.
whirl (n.)
early 15c., "flywheel of a spindle," from whirl (v.). The meaning "act of whirling" is recorded from late 15c.; figurative sense of "confused activity" is recorded from 1550s. Colloquial sense of "tentative attempt" is attested from 1884, American English.
