Etymology

Arnold

A1R1N1O1L1D2

Today it means: A male given name from the Germanic languages brought to England by Normans. Full definition →

Germanic ← Proto-West Germanic *Arnuwald ← Proto-Germanic *arô
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*arô“eagle”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*Arnuwald
  3. Germanic · derived from
  4. English todayArnold

From a French version of a Germanic name, from Proto-West Germanic *Arnuwald, from Proto-Germanic *arô (“eagle”) + *waldą (“power”). For the first part of the word doublet of erne, ornis, and ornitho-. Compare the Latin male given name and cognomen Aquila, and female given name Aquilīna (whence Russian Акули́на (Akulína)), related to aquila (whence eagle).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Germanic*arô all →

erne

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.