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Some Interesting Old English Words
 Drēam
 Bill
/ Bile
 Gafol
 Cwelan
 Bad
Lost Word: Dream
drēam:
1. joy or bliss
revelry, rejoicing
2. music
Lost Word: Dream
drēam-cræft:
the art of music
“ swa mæg eac se dreamcræft
ðæt se mon bið dreamere ”
drēamere:
musician
OE translation of Boethius’s The
Consolation of Philosophy
Thus music makes musicians
(medicine makes doctors, rhetoric
makes rhetoricians).
“You may say that I’m a dreamer”—John Lennon
People speaking Old English would say that.
Lost Word: Dream
As joy, drēam was replaced by a French
loan: “joie.”
As music, drēam was replaced by a
Latin/French loan: musica, which came
ultimately from the Greek idea of the Muse.
Found Word: Dream
The Oxford English Dictionary shows the last use
of “dream” meaning “music” in 1330.
“Dream” inexplicably appears in its modern sense
(a vision during sleep) in 1250. The Oxford
English Dictionary notes:
“It is remarkable that no trace of dréam in this sense
appears in Old English; yet it is clear that it must have
existed, since the Middle English form drêm is regularly
derived from it, and could come from no other source.”
It’s possible that one day someone just dreamed up the word.
Interesting Word: Bill/Bile
In Old English, the word “bill” meant a sword.
The word “bile” was related. It meant the
beak of a bird, which for some birds
resembled a sword.
The word “bile” was replaced with the Latin
word referring to the body fluid.
Ultimately, “bill” lost its meaning and took on
the meaning of the word “bile.”
Lost Word: Gafol
gafol:
 a payment or tribute made to a
superior
 a debt
 rent owed to a landlord
GafolGale
“Gale” in Modern English was contracted
from gavel and meant a periodical
payment of rent. Its usage died out in the
19th Century.
GafolGavel
“Gafol” merged with the French word “gabelle”
(meaning tax) to form “gavel” which meant a
payment.
“Gavel” became a verb, meaning to divide up land
(the British laws for Celtic land inheritance were
called “gavelkind”).
“Gavel” then became a noun again, referring to a
president’s mallet.
Judge Reinhold’s
Court
GafolGavel (disclaimer)
All of that makes logical sense, but some
etymologists argue that the word “gavel”
meaning mallet actually comes from words
in German and referred initially to an
actual tool that a mason used.
Interesting Root: Cwelan
cwelan: to die
cwellan: to kill
cwellere, cwellend: killer
cwyld: disease
cwalu: murder
Interesting Root: Cwelan
From these death-related words, Middle English
received:
quale: meaning death, now obsolete
qualm: meaning death, now obsolete
(this may be the root for the modern “qualm”—a sudden sickness)
These words probably never lasted because of the
Latin “qual-”, which created words like quality and
qualify—more about logic than death.
Interesting Root: Cwelan
The word “quell” (meaning “to put an end to”)
derives from “cwelan.”
More interestingly, the Oxford English Dictionary
doesn’t show “kill” as explicitly related to
“cwelan.” “Kill” it argues first appears in Middle
English. Words that sound like “kill” in Old
English have very different meanings:
cyle: cold; cylen: kiln; cyll: a leather bag.
Etymology: “bad”
The etymology of the word “bad” is a mystery.
The word “bād” in Old English meant an
expectation, but it had no connotations as
to whether the expectation was good or
bad.
Etymology: “bad”
So where does bad come from? Possiblities:
“bæddel” meant a hermaphrodite.
“bædd” could be a derivative of this, a
demeaning way to refer to someone.
The Oxford English Dictionary leans toward “bad”
being originally used in names of people and
places. The connotations of these people and
places became so negative that their names
became the very opposite of “good.”
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