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Origin and history of Neil

Neil

surname and masc. proper name, from Gaelic/Old Irish Niall "champion." Picked up by the Vikings in Ireland (as Njall), brought by them to Iceland and Norway, thence to France, from which place it was introduced in England at the Conquest. Incorrectly Latinized as Nigellus on mistaken association with niger "black," hence Nigel.

Entries linking to Neil

Nigel

masc. proper name; see Neil.

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    corn-dog
    Said to have been introduced by Vaudeville performers Neil and Carl Fletcher in 1942 at the Texas State Fair....
    nail
    naglaz (source also of Old Norse nagl "fingernail," nagli "metal nail;" Old Saxon and Old High German nagel, Old Frisian neil...
    shambles
    "meat or fish market," early 15c., from schamil "table, stall for vending" (c. 1300), from Old English scamol, scomul "stool, footstool" (also figurative); "bench or stall in a market on which goods are exposed for sale, table for vending." Compare Old Saxon skamel "stool," Middl
    Memphis
    ancient city of Egypt, from Memphis, the Greek form of Egyptian Mennefer, literally "his beauty," from men "his" + nefer "beauty" (as in Queen Nefertiti, literally "Beauty has Come"). A reference to pharaoh Pepi I (24c. B.C.E.). The city in Tennessee, U.S., was so named 1826 for
    clothes-horse
    also clothes horse, "upright wooden frame for hanging clothes to dry," 1788, from clothes + horse (n.) in its secondary sense "that upon which something is mounted." Figurative sense of "person whose sole function seems to be to show off clothes" is 1850. Clothes-screen, which ha
    community
    late 14c., "a number of people associated together by the fact of residence in the same locality," also "the common people" (not the rulers or the clergy), from Old French comunité "community, commonness, everybody" (Modern French communauté), from Latin communitatem (nominative
    courage
    c. 1300, corage, "heart (as the seat of emotions)," hence "spirit, temperament, state or frame of mind,"from Old French corage "heart, innermost feelings; temper" (12c., Modern French courage), from Vulgar Latin *coraticum (source of Italian coraggio, Spanish coraje), from Latin
    manna
    Old English borrowing from Late Latin manna, from Greek manna, from Hebrew mān, probably literally "substance exuded by the tamarisk tree," but used in Greek and Latin specifically with reference to the substance miraculously supplied to the Children of Israel during their wander
    staple
    late 13c., stapel, "bent piece of metal with pointed ends," from Old English stapol, stapel "post, pillar, trunk of a tree, steps to a house," from Proto-Germanic *stapulaz "pillar" (source also of Old Norse stopull "tower," Old Saxon stapal "candle, small tub," Old Frisian stapu
    succession
    early 14c., successioun, "fact or right of succeeding someone by inheritance," from Old French succession "inheritance; a following on" (13c.) and directly from Latin successionem (nominative successio) "a following after, a coming into another's place, result," noun of action fr

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