Middle English Dictionary Entry
aiel n.
Entry Info
| Forms | aiel n. Also ayel(le, ayeul, aile. |
| Etymology | OF aiuel, aio(u)l grandfather, ancestor (from L avunculus); aiuele grandmother, aunt. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) Grandfather; gret ~, distant ancestor; (b) aieles, ancestors.
Associated quotations
a
- (c1385) Chaucer CT.Kn.(Manly-Rickert)A.2477 : I am thyn aiel [vrr. al, ay, etc.] redy at thy wille.
- c1400 Brut-1333 (Rwl B.171)135/9 : Duk of Normandye, þat was Aile to þe Duc William.
- (1430) Doc.in Flasdieck Origurk.93 : All the castels..that weren sumtyme to the ffader and aiell of the seid Erle.
- (?a1439) Lydg.FP (Bod 263)2.3182 : Off his aiel, the grete Astriages.
- (1439) in Rymer's Foedera (1709-10)10.724 : Kyng Edward his Gret Aiel, and the Kyng his Fader.
- c1440(?a1400) Morte Arth.(1) (Thrn)2603 : He es of Alexandire blode..The vncle of his ayele, sir Ector of Troye.
- (1447) RParl.5.139a : Kyng Henri the forth, ayeul unto oure Soverain Lord that now is.
- (1447) Doc.N.Convocation in Sur.Soc.113180 : Henry IV, youre Aile.
- a1475(1450) Scrope DSP (Bod 943)150/2 : Phisician to the ayelle of Alexaundre.
- (1455) Paston (Gairdner)3.59 : Kyng Herry the iiijthe, ayle to our Souvragn Lord that now ys.
- (a1464) Capgr.Chron.(Cmb Gg.4.12)97 : The same heresi of Crist in whech his fader and his ayle was infecte.
- (1467) Proc.Chanc.in Cal.PCEliz.1.p.lxxvii : Thomas sometyme lorde Berkeley, aiel to the seid countesse, that is, to wyt, fader to Elisabeth, moder to seid countesse.
- (a1460) Bokenham Sts. (Adv Abbotsford B3)11.428 (v.1:p.118) : Tharchebisshop Thomas .. halowid solempnely the chirche of Redyng which Kyng Harry the first aftir the conquest, this kyngis ayle, founded and lyeth buryed in the same.
- c1475(?c1451) Worcester Bk.Noblesse (Roy 18.B.22)35 : Gascoine..was the said king Henry propre enheritaunce by his aiel, king Henry the second, that weddid dame Alienor.
b
- c1400(c1378) PPl.B (LdMisc 581)15.317 : Allas! lordes and ladyes, lewed conseille haue ȝe To ȝyue fram ȝowre eyres þat ȝowre ayeles [Cmb Dd: ailes] ȝow lefte.