atheling
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English atheling, from Old English æþeling, from Proto-Germanic *aþulingaz. Equivalent to athel + -ing.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
atheling (plural athelings)
- A prince, especially an Anglo-Saxon prince or royal heir.
- 1966, Dorothy Whitelock, The Norman Conquest, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, page 60:
- […] to substitute as the Confessor′s heir, the Atheling Edward (son of Edmund Ironside), who was then an exile in Hungary. After the atheling′s return from exile, and his very suspicious death in England in 1057, the Norman duke must surely have realized that his chief opponent in England was likely to be Harold Godwineson […] .