English
addle
Addle comes from Middle English adel ‘rotten’, from Old English adel ‘mire, pool, liquid excrement’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *adalaz.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*adalaz‘liquid manure’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*adalreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150adel‘mire, pool, liquid excrement’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘rotten’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1602addle
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*adalaz‘liquid manure’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*adalreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150adel‘mire, pool, liquid excrement’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘rotten’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1602addle
Earliest quotation: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida: “Pan. Troilus! Why, he esteems her no more than…”
Every English word from Proto-Germanic *adalaz
Another origin of addle
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂et-olo-‘family, race’uncertain
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*aþalą‘nature’uncertain
- Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ōþalą‘ancestral land, the land owned by one's kin’uncertain
- Proto-Norsec. 200–800 CE*ōðalatransliteratedrunes *ᛟᚦᚨᛚᚨuncertain
- Old Norsec. 800–1350ōðal‘owndom, property’uncertain
- Old Norse, derivedc. 800–1350ǫðlask‘to gain possession of property’uncertain
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500addlen
- Englishtodayaddle
Inherited from Middle English addlen, adlen, probably from Old Norse ǫðlask (‘to gain possession of property’), from ōðal (‘owndom, property’).
Today it means
adj Having lost the power of development, and become rotten; putrid.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *adalaz / addle