addled

From Middle English addledd, adyld, equivalent to addle (“urine, liquid filth”) + -ed. Addle derives from Old English adel, adela (“mud, mire, liquid manure”), cognate with Old Swedish adel (“urine”), Middle Low German adel, Dutch aal (“manure”). Used in noun phrase addle egg (mid-13c.) “egg that does not hatch, rotten egg”, lit. “urine egg”, a loan translation of Latin ovum urinum, which is itself an erroneous loan translation of Ancient Greek οὔριον ᾠόν (oúrion ōión, “putrid egg”), lit. “wind egg”, from οὔριος (oúrios, “of the wind”), from οὖρος (oûros, “fair wind”) (confused by Roman writers with οὔριος (oúrios, “of urine”), from οὖρον (oûron, “urine”)). Because of this usage, the noun in English was taken as an adj. from c. 1600, meaning “putrid”.

Meaning

Synonyms

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈæ.dəld/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English

addledd

Cognate with Middle Low German

adel

Cognate with Dutch

aal

Cognate with Latin

ovum urinum

Cognate with Ancient Greek

οὔριον ᾠόν

In summary

addle

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