Etymology

ell

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Today it means: A measure of length. An English ell was 1¼ yards (45 inches or 114 cm), a Scottish ell was about 37 inches (94 cm), a Flemish ell was ¾ yard (27 inches or 69 cm), while certain European ells were less than 50 cm. Full definition →

Middle English elle ← Old English eln ← Proto-West Germanic *alinu
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ell · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*Heh₃l-én-eh₂
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*alinō
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*alinu
  4. Old English · inherited fromeln“the length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger; a unit of measure”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromelle
  6. English todayell

From Middle English elle, elne, from Old English eln (“the length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger; a unit of measure”), from Proto-West Germanic *alinu, from Proto-Germanic *alinō, from Proto-Indo-European *Heh₃l-én-eh₂, from *Heh₃l- (“elbow, forearm”). Cognate with Dutch el (“ell”), German Low German Ell (“ell”), German Elle (“ell”), Swedish aln (“cubit; ell”), Icelandic alin (“cubit; ell”), Latin ulna (“forearm”).

ell · noun2

From the name of the letter L (late 18th century).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.