addle English · revision 1141

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈæd.əl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It comes from Middle English ''adel'' “rotten”,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) from Old English ''adela'' “mud, mire, liquid filth”,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) related to Middle Low German ''adele'' “liquid manure”^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Etymonline) and Old Swedish ''adel'' “urine”.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) It is of unknown origin.^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In ''adel eye'' “rotten egg” (about 1250),^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) a translation of Medieval Latin ''ovum urinae'' “egg of urine”,^(Barnhart 1995)^(OED 1989) itself a misrendering of Latin ''ovum urinum'', Greek ''oúrion ōón'' “wind egg”,^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) an egg that does not hatch.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Because the noun was used before ''egg'', it came to be taken as an adjective meaning “rotten” (1592),^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) and by analogy with a rotten egg “empty, muddled, confused”.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) Compounds such as ''addle-pate'' (about 1600) and ''addle-headed'' (1660s) followed.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995) The verb, to muddle or confuse, is recorded from 1646 as ''addled'' in Barnhart and Etymonline.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * about 1000 – Old English ''adela'', liquid filth.^(Barnhart 1995)^(OED 1989)

+ * about 1250 – ''adel eye'', a rotten egg.^(Barnhart 1995)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1592 – adjective, rotten.^(OED 1989)

+ * about 1600 – ''addle-pate''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1646 – ''addled'', confused.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1706 – muddled, empty.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make confused; to [[muddle]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To become confused.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+ # Of an egg, to become rotten; to spoil.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Muddled or confused.^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of an egg, rotten.^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[addlebrained]]

+ * [[addlepated]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[addled]]

+ * [[muddle]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}