auld

Etymology

It is the Scots and northern English form of old,^[2][3][4][5] inherited from Middle English ald,^[6][7][8] inherited from Old English ald, the Anglian form of the word that West Saxon and Kentish wrote eald.^{[9][10][11][12]} Etymonline notes that it keeps the Old English vowel more faithfully than old.^[13] Merriam-Webster Unabridged describes it as a northern Middle English alteration of ald.^[6][8] It comes from Proto-Germanic *aldaz (“grown old”),^[14][15] the source also of Old Frisian ald (also auld), Old Saxon ald, Dutch oud, Old High German alt and German alt, and related to Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌸𐌴𐌹𐍃 (alþeis, “old”).^[14][15] Kroonen reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-tó-, the same formation as Latin altus (“high”);^[14] Köbler takes it as a participle of Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“to grow, nourish”).^[16]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old: the 1989 edition of the OED records the word from 950, in its Old English form,^[17] and Bosworth–Toller cites Old English ald from the poems Exodus and Elene.^[18] As a distinct Scottish and northern form it dates from the 14th century in Merriam-Webster Unabridged,^[6] and to late Middle English in the Shorter Oxford.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The Anglian ald spread through the Midland dialects of Middle English and became old, while the southern eald survives mainly in place names.^[11] Etymonline says that auld survived in northern English and Scots, and that after the late 14th century it was distinctly Scottish.^[13] Johnson (1755) called it "now obsolete; but still used in the Scotch dialect", quoting the ballad line "Then take thine auld cloak about thee" from Othello.^[19] The phrase auld lang syne, literally "old long since", the days of long ago, became familiar in England through the song.^[12][4][20] Tréguer finds for ald lang syne, glossed "old kindness", in 1692, a broadside ballad Old Long Syne probably printed in 1701, and Walter Scott's "for auld lang syne" in 1818;^[21] Robert Burns did not coin the phrase, but his lyrics are the ones sung at midnight on New Year's Eve.^[22][23] Other fixed uses are Auld Reekie, "Old Smoky", for Edinburgh,^[4][12][17] and the auld alliance between Scotland and France, from a treaty of 1295 until the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots.^[4] The English Dialect Dictionary records auld for "eldest" in Perthshire, Ayrshire and around Glasgow, where "my auld son" could mean a child; in East Anglia the auld bowl was the first or best, in Norfolk the bowl nearest the jack.^[24] Scots also had Auld Hangie, Auld Smith and Auld Thief as jocular names for the devil (Burns addressed "auld Hangie" in 1785), aul' day for the idle day after a celebration, and auld wife for a revolving chimney cowl.^[24] Etymonline adds auld-farrand for a child wise beyond its years, and auld wives' tongues for the aspen, whose leaves never stop moving.^[13]

Timeline

• 950 – old, in Old English.^[17]
• 14th century – the northern Middle English form auld.^[6][4]
• 1692 – for ald lang syne, for old kindness' sake.^[21]
• 1785 – auld Hangie, the devil, in Burns's Address to the Deil.^[24]
• 1818 – for auld lang syne, in Scott's The Heart of Midlothian.^[21]
• 1823 – eldest (my auld son), in Galt's The Entail.^[24]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (chiefly Scottish) Old: an auld friend.^[6][2][4]
2. auld lang syne: times long past, especially remembered with old friends, as in for auld lang syne, for old times' sake.^[4][17][21]
3. Auld Reekie: a nickname of Edinburgh.^[4][17]
4. the auld alliance: the alliance of Scotland and France against England.^[4]

Related words

• alderman
• auld lang syne
• eld
• elder
• old

Usage notes

In Scotland auld is used for "eldest" of a son, daughter, brother or sister, as the English Dialect Dictionary records for Perthshire, Ayrshire and Glasgow.^[24] Hendrickson notes that the song title simply means "old long since", times past.^[20]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
3. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Mayhew, A. L.; Skeat, Walter W. (1888), A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Smith, A. H. (1956), English Place-Name Elements, 2 vols. (English Place-Name Society 25–26), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
12. ^ a b c Onions, C. T., ed. (1966), The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
15. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
16. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
17. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
18. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
19. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
20. ^ a b Hendrickson, Robert (2008), The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 4th ed., New York: Facts on File
21. ^ a b c d Tréguer, Pascal, Word Histories, wordhistories.net, p. "Origin of the phrase ‘auld lang syne’", 1 January 2017
22. ^ Wilton, Dave, Wordorigins.org, wordorigins.org, p. "auld lang syne", 27 December 2023
23. ^ Martin, Gary, The Phrase Finder: Meaning and Origin of Phrases, Sayings, Clichés and Quotes, https://www.phrases.org.uk
24. ^ a b c d e Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)