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From: svm@kozmix.xs4all.nl (Sander van Malssen)
Subject: Re: Aedel- in OE from Latin Aedile?
Reply-To: svm@kozmix.xs4all.nl
Organization: Kozmic Egg Productions, Gouda, Netherlands
Message-ID: <Cwn6yC.Ls@kozmix.xs4all.nl>
References: <361d2p$g2s@dekalb.DC.PeachNet.EDU>
Date: Sat, 24 Sep 1994 18:25:22 +0200 (MET DST)
Lines: 31

daddleto@dekalb.dc.peachnet.edu (david f addleton,g* acbu,*,4) writes:
> I've spent considerable time in libraries searching for the
> etymology of Aedel- in OE names, eg., Aedelwulf.  The meaning
> of OE and ME Aedel seems clear enough - `noble'.  But the
> etymology remains a mystery to me.  The usual etymological
> sources give me nothing.  I suspect the appearance of the
> prefix had something to do with the English kings looking
> backwards to Roman times and adopting the Latin Aedile, a
> pagan religious office held by the Caesar who conquered
> England, for use as an English term for nobility.

I have no etymological dictionary of English here, but I thought I'd
look up the etymology for Dutch _adel_ 'nobility', _edel_ 'noble', where
the word is traced back to a Proto-Germanic *athal- (th=thorn), of
uncertain further origin. The Anglo-Saxon cognate is given as _aedelu_
(d=eth). I don't think there is any reason to link it to Latin _aedile_.
(It would have to be a _very_ early borrowing. Also I doubt that a Latin
_ae_, wether pronounced /ai/ or /e/ would lead to AS _ae_, but then
again I know nothing specific about Latin borrowings into AS. Same for
the d.) The word is a common Germanic word and so is its usage as first
member of names.


Sander

Ref:
Franck, Van Wijk, Van Haeringen, Etymologisch Woordenboek der
Nederlandsche taal + Suppl., Leiden, 1936.
-- 
Sander van Malssen
svm@kozmix.xs4all.nl
