athel
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
From Middle English athel, ethel, hathel (“noble; nobleman, hero”), from Old English æþele (“noble”), from Proto-West Germanic *aþal, from Proto-Germanic *aþalaz, *aþaljaz, *aþiluz (“noble, of noble birth”), from Proto-Indo-European *átta (“father”).
Akin to Saterland Frisian eedel, West Frisian eal, Dutch edel, German edel. Middle English form hathel due to conflation with Old English hæleþ (“hero”). See heleth.
Noun edit
athel (plural athels)
- (obsolete) A chief or lord.
- 1508, Golagros and Gawane:
- To tell of his deir weid war doutles delite,
And alse ter for to tell the travalis war tight.
His name and his nobillay wes noght for to nyte;
Thair wes na hathill sa heich, be half ane fute hicht.
- c. 1515, The Scottish Field:
- Proclamation in that place,
was plainely declared,
That every hatell should him hie,
in hast that he might,
To Bolton in Geldowre,
all in godly haste.
Derived terms edit
Etymology 2 edit
Noun edit
athel (plural athels)
- A kind of tamarisk native to northern Africa and the Middle East, Tamarix aphylla, planted widely elsewhere as a shade tree and a windbreak due to its tolerance of heat and of alkaline soils, but tending to become invasive outside of its native range.
Anagrams edit
Middle English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Old English æþele, æðele, eþele, from Proto-West Germanic *aþulī, from Proto-Germanic *aþalaz. Cognate with Old High German adal (German edel), Old Norse aðall.
Adjective edit
athel
Descendants edit
- English: athel
Further reading edit
- “ā̆thel, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.