'ablautal' originates from English, formed by adding the adjectival suffix '-al' to 'ablaut', where 'ablaut' was borrowed from German 'Ablaut' meaning 'sound alternation' (from German 'ab-' 'off' + 'Laut' 'sound').

'ablaut' was borrowed into English in the 19th century from German 'Ablaut' (itself from Germanic roots 'ab-' + 'laut'), and the English adjective 'ablautal' was later formed by combining 'ablaut' with the suffix '-al' to mean 'pertaining to ablaut'.

Initially the German term referred broadly to 'sound alternation'; in English the sense narrowed to specifically denote vowel gradation in morphological alternations, and 'ablautal' now means 'relating to that vowel alternation'.