English
alow
Alow comes from Middle English alowe ‘low or lower down, below’, and goes back to lowe.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lowe
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500alowe‘low or lower down, below’
- Englishearliest quotation 1596alow
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history not traced here.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lowe
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500alowe‘low or lower down, below’
- Englishearliest quotation 1596alow
Earliest quotation: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book VI, Canto VIII: “Sometimes aloft he layd, sometimes alow, / Now here,…”
Linked words
through Middle English lowe
Today it means
adv Low down.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English lowe / alow