ethel

See also: Ethel and eþel

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛθəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Middle English ethel, from Old English ǣþel, ēþel.

Noun

ethel

1. The letter Œ/œ, or the rune ᛟ.

Alternative forms

• œthel

Synonyms

• (letter, rune): odal

Translations

letter

• French: e dans l’o (fr)
• German: oe-Ligatur (de) f

Adjective

ethel

1. (obsolete) Noble.
   • 1856, Samuel Klinefelter Hoshour, Letters to Squire Pedant, in the East, page 33:

     […] that he was of a doughty and ethel stirp. His ayle and eam had both been bellipotent; […]

   • 1861, Henry Brougham, The British Constitution: Its History, Structure, and Working, page 140:

     The violation of an ethel born or noble woman was paid for by a higher murde than that of an un-ethel or common person. The murder of all persons was in like manner paid for by a were or were-geld, nicely adjusted to their relative rank.

   • 1921, The Judge, page 5:

     "I have come to seek your counsel in your most ethel of ethical capacities. My problem is wholly mechanical."

Etymology 2

Noun

ethel (plural ethels)

1. Alternative form of athel (“tamarisk”).
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:ethel.

Anagrams

• Leeth, Lethe, Theel, lethe

Middle English

Noun

ethel

1. homeland, ancestral territory (especially of the Anglo-Saxons or other Germanic peoples)
2. patrimony

Adjective

ethel

1. athel (i.e., noble)