"HILI, v. Haw., to braid, plait, twist, turn over, spin; wili, id.; wili, s. a ribbon a roll; wili-wili, to stir round, to mix; another dialectical variation is hilo, to twist, turn, spin.

Sam., fili, to plait, as sinnet; filo, to mix, s. twine, thread; vili, a gimlet a whirlpool.

Marqu., fau-fii, twist, braid.

N. Zeal., wiri, id.

Rarot., iro, id.

Tah., firi, id.; hiro, id.

Fiji., siri, askew, not nicely in a row, wrong, in error.

Tagal and Bisays, hilig, a woof.

Greek, είλω, to roll up, to press together, pass to and fro, to wind, turn round; έλισσω, turn round or about, roll, whirl; έλιξ, adj., twisted, curled; s. anything of a spiral shape, twist, curl, coil; ίλλω, to roll, of the eyes, to squint, look askance; ίλλος, squinting; ίλλας, a rope, band; ίλιγξ, a whirlpool.

Sanskr., vel, vehl, to shake, tremble; vellita, crooked; anu-vellita, a bandage. To this Sanskrit vel Benfey refers the Greek είλω, the Latin volvo, and the Gothic walojan. Liddell and Scott also incline to connect είλω and volvo with the same root.

To me it would seem as if the Sanskrit vrij, whose 'original signification', Benfey says, is 'to bend', and the Sanskrit vrit, whose 'original signification', Benfey says, is 'to turn', were nearer akin to the primary form from which the Greek είλω, ίλλω, and the Polynesian hili, wiri, descend: that primary form being vri, now lost to the Sanskrit, with a primary sense of to bend, twist, turn over, braid, and of which vel, vell, or vehl, is possibly another secondary and attenuated form. With such a Sanskrit vŗi. surviving in vŗij and vŗit, the derivation of the Latin filum, thread, as twisted, spun; of the Latin varus, bent asunder, parting from each other, varix, crookedness; of the Saxon wile, deceit; of the Swedish willa, confusion, error, wilse, astray, becomes easy and intelligible." (Fornander)