fell English · revision 2787

+ ''Fell'' is also the past tense of [[fall]].^(AHD)^(SOED 2002) Four other words are spelled ''fell'': “animal skin”, “to cut down”, “cruel” and “hill”.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /fel/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ {{homograph|1|skin}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 725, Beowulf|origins=ine-pro *pel-}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The skin is [[inh|enm|felle]],^(Barnhart 1988) [[inh|ang|fell|t=skin, hide]], fel,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from [[gem-pro|*fellą|alt=*fellam]],^(Hoad 1986) from Proto-Indo-European *pello-,^(Hoad 1986) the base also of [[la|pellis|t=skin]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) It is cognate with Old Frisian and Old Saxon fel, Dutch vel, German Fell, Old Norse fell (in berfjall “bearskin”) and Gothic -fill in þrūtsfill “leprosy”.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) Barnhart relates it to [[film]].^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The skin or hide of an animal, with the hair or wool: about 725, in ''Beowulf'',^(Barnhart 1988) and about 1000 in the OED.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was also used of the human skin from about 1000, often in phrases with flesh,^(OED 1989) and of a thick, matted covering of hair or wool, a fleece, from 1600.^(OED 1989) In dialect from Scotland to Kent it remained the word for a skin or hide.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 725 – an animal's skin.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1000 – the human skin.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1600 – a fleece.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An animal's skin or [[hide]], with the hair or wool.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A thick covering of hair or wool; a [[fleece]].^(MW Collegiate)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fellmonger]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|cut down}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=before 800|origins=gem-pro *falljaną}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The verb meaning “to cut down” is [[inh|enm|fellen]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) [[inh|ang|fellan|t=to make fall; to demolish, kill]], Mercian fællan, West Saxon fyllan,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[gem-pro|*falljaną|alt=*falljanan|t=to strike down, cause to fall]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) a causative of the source of [[fall]], with i-mutation.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) It is cognate with Old Frisian fella, Old Saxon fellian, Dutch vellen, German fällen and Old Norse fella.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To make fall, demolish, kill: before 800, in the Mercian dialect.^(Barnhart 1988) The OED's first examples, to strike down a man or animal and to cut down a tree, are from about 1000.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old English also used the verb of disease or hunger laying someone low (about 900) and of overthrowing a building (before 1000).^(OED 1989) The sewing sense, to finish a seam by turning under and stitching down the raw edges, is a later use,^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) and the noun, the timber cut down in a season, is from the early 17th century.^(SOED 2002)^(AHD)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 800 – to make fall, kill.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1000 – to cut down a tree.^(OED 1989)

+ * early 17th century – noun, timber felled.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To cut down a [[tree]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To knock down; to [[kill]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To sew a seam with the raw edges turned under and stitched flat.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The timber cut down in one season.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[feller]]

+

+ {{homograph|3|cruel}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1275}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The adjective meaning “cruel” is [[inh|enm|fel]],^(MWU 2024) [[bor|fro|fel|t=cruel, fierce, vicious]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) the nominative of a word whose oblique case gave [[felon]],^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024) from [[la-med|fello|t=villain, rogue]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Fierce, cruel, terrible: about 1300 in Barnhart,^(Barnhart 1988) before 1300 in the OED,^(OED 1989) and the late 13th century in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) The sense “shrewd, cunning”, now obsolete, is from about 1275.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle English it also meant “keen, piercing” of weapons or pain, “angry” and “sturdy, doughty”.^(OED 1989) The phrase ''at one fell swoop'' is from Shakespeare's ''Macbeth'', where Macduff learns that his wife and children have been killed;^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) it first described the deadly descent of a bird of prey, and came to mean “all at once”.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1275 – shrewd, cunning.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1300 – fierce, cruel.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1606 – ''at one fell swoop'', in Macbeth.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(literary)'' Fierce and cruel; deadly: ''a fell disease''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''at one fell swoop'': All at once.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ {{homograph|4|hill}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1300|origins=non fjall}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The hill is [[inh|enm|fell]],^(MWU 2024) [[bor|non|fjall|t=mountain]], fell,^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(Hoad 1986)^(Cresswell 2021) from [[gem-pro|*felzą|alt=*felzam-|t=rock]],^(Etymonline) from [[ine-pro|*pel(i)s-|t=rock, cliff]].^(Etymonline) It is related to German Fels “rock”,^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) whose Old High German form felisa is the source of French falaise “cliff”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A rocky hill: about 1300 in Etymonline,^(Etymonline) the 13th century in Merriam-Webster^(MWU 2024) and Hoad.^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A wild, high stretch of moorland or pasture is from before 1300, now chiefly in the north of England;^(OED 1989)^(Wright 1898) in the 16th and 17th centuries it was misunderstood as “marsh, fen”.^(OED 1989) The word survives mostly in place names, such as Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1300 – a rocky hill.^(Etymonline)

+ * 16th century – misread as a fen.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(northern England)'' A [[hill]] or mountain; a stretch of high, open [[moorland]].^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fall]]

+ * [[felon]]

+ * [[film]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}