The story
- Latin · derived fromāla
- Anglo-Norman · derived fromele“wing”
- Middle English · inherited fromele
- English todayaisle
From Middle English ele, from Anglo-Norman ele (“wing”) (Modern French aile), from Latin āla (whence English ala). Further from Latin axis (whence English axis, atelier). Via Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱs- cognate with English axle, Ancient Greek ἄξων (áxōn) (whence English axo-, axon). The modern pronunciation has been influenced by English isle, whence the obsolete form isle; the modern spelling reflects further modification of this form after modern French aile.
Words from the same roots
Latināla all →
alaalarali-aliformalipedalitrunk
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.