Etymology

addle

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Today it means: Having lost the power of development, and become rotten; putrid. Full definition →

Middle English adel ← Old English adel, adela ← Proto-West Germanic *adal
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addle · adjective, noun, verb, noun1

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*adalaz
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*adal
  3. Old English · inherited fromadel, adela“mire, pool, liquid excrement”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromadel“rotten”
  5. English todayaddle

From Middle English adel (“rotten”), from Old English adel, adela (“mire, pool, liquid excrement”), from Proto-West Germanic *adal, from Proto-Germanic *adalaz, *adalô (“cattle urine, liquid manure”). Akin to Scots adill, North Frisian ethel (“urine”), Saterland Frisian adel (“dung”), Middle Low German adele (“mud, liquid manure”) (Dutch aal (“liquid manure”)), Old Swedish adel (“urine”), Danish ajle (“liquid manure”), Bavarian Adel (“liquid manure”).

addle · verb2

  1. Old Norse · derived fromǫðlask“to gain possession of property”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromaddlen
  3. English todayaddle

Inherited from Middle English addlen, adlen, probably from Old Norse ǫðlask (“to gain possession of property”), from ōðal (“owndom, property”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.