Etymology

From ge- +‎ wôlt, from Old Saxon wāld. The presence of the prefix is a regional variation going back to Old Saxon.
Related to the verb wôlden ‎(“reign, do as one pleases”) from the Proto-Germanic *walþą. Cognate with German Gewalt ‎(“power, violence”).

Pronunciation

• Stem vowel: ô²
  • (originally) IPA^(key): /ɣə'wɔːlt/ or IPA^(key): /ɣə'wɔlt/
  • While the combination /ld/ originally lengthened the vowel in Old Saxon, in several Middle Low German dialects it was treated like a geminate, or had actually become /lː/, and in turn shortened long vowels occurring before it. Further, the vowel was shortened before /lt/ from final obstruent devoicing. Dialects then often begun to apply the more common vowel length across all forms.