Thursday, 16 September 2010

bridal

To my surprise, bridal is not bride plus the suffix -al (as in, say, central).
Etymologically it's "bride-ale": Old English brȳdealo, "wedding ale" or "wedding feast", which is brȳd "bride" plus ealu "ale".
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2 comments :

Jonathon said...

Huh. That is surprising.

16 September 2010 at 18:01
Glen Gordon said...

I guess 'bridal' could be viewed as a kind of egg-corn then, couldn't it?

17 September 2010 at 19:32

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