English
alnage
Alnage comes from Old French alnage.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400alnage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500aulnage
- Englishearliest quotation 1896alnage
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400alnage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500aulnage
- Englishearliest quotation 1896alnage
Earliest quotation: 1896, Edwin Arlington Robinson: “Poets and kings are but the clerks of Time,…”
Every English word from Old French alnage
Today it means
noun Measurement (of cloth) by the ell, specifically, official inspection and measurement of woollen cloth, and attestation of its value by the affixing of a lead seal, as was once required by British law.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French alnage / alnage