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Origin and history of addle

addle(v.)

"become putrid," hence "be spoiled, be made worthless or ineffective," 1640s (implied in addled), from archaic addle (n.) "urine, liquid filth," from Old English adela "mud, mire, liquid manure" (cognate with East Frisian adel "dung," Old Swedish adel "urine," Middle Low German adel "mud," Dutch aal "puddle").

Popularly used in the noun phrase addle egg (mid-13c.) "egg that does not hatch, rotten egg," a loan-translation of Latin ovum urinum, literally "urine egg," which is itself an erroneous loan-translation of Greek ourion ōon "putrid egg," literally "wind egg," from ourios "of the wind" (confused by Roman writers with ourios "of urine," from ouron "urine").

From this phrase, since c. 1600 the noun in English was mistaken as an adjective meaning "putrid," and thence given a figurative extension to "empty, vain, idle," also "confused, muddled, unsound" (1706), then back-formed into a verb in that sense. Related: Addling.

Popular in forming derogatory compounds 17c. and after, such as addle-headed "stupid, muddled" (1660s); addle-pated (1630s); addle-pate "stupid bungler" (c. 1600); addle-plot "spoil-sport, person who spoils any amusement" (1690s).

also from 1640s

Entries linking to addle

spoil-sport(n.)

"one who hinders enjoyment," 1786, from the verbal phrase (attested by 1711) in reference to one who "ruins" the "fun;" see spoil (v.) + sport (n.). Compare Chaucer's letgame "hinderer of pleasure" (late 14c.), with obsolete verb let "hinder, prevent, stop" (see let (n.)). Another old word for it was addle-plot "person who spoils any amusement" (1690s; see addle). Also compare spoil-paper (n.) "petty author, scribbler" (1610s). Grose (1788) has spoil pudding (n.), "A parson who preaches long sermons, keeping his congregation in church till the puddings are over done."

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    muddle
    1590s, "destroy the clarity of" (a transferred sense); literal sense ("to bathe in mud") is from c. 1600; perhaps frequentative formation from mud, or from Dutch moddelen "to make (water) muddy," from the same Proto-Germanic source. Sense of "to make muddy" is from 1670s; that of
    confuse
    1550s in a literal sense "mix or mingle things or ideas so as to render the elements indistinguishable;" from mid-18c. in the active, figurative sense of "perplex the mind or ideas of, discomfit in mind or feeling," but not in general use until after c. 1800. From 1862 as "errone
    spoil
    c. 1300, spoilen, "strip (someone) violently of clothes, strip a slain enemy," from Anglo-French espoiller, Old French espoillier, espillier "strip, plunder, pillage" and directly from Latin spoliare "strip, uncover, lay bare; strip of clothing, rob, plunder, pillage," a verb fro
    magic
    late 14c., magike, "art of influencing or predicting events and producing marvels using hidden natural forces," also "supernatural art," especially the art of controlling the actions of spiritual or superhuman beings; from Old French magique "magic; magical," from Late Latin magi
    trivial
    "ordinary" (1580s); "insignificant, trifling" (1590s), from Latin trivialis "common, commonplace, vulgar," literally "of or belonging to the crossroads," from trivium "place where three roads meet," in transferred use, "an open place, a public place," from tri- "three" (see three
    penance
    c. 1300, penaunce, "religious discipline or self-mortification as a token of repentance and as atonement for some sin; sorrow for sin shown by outward acts under authority and regulation of the Church," from Anglo-French penaunce, Old French peneance (12c.), from Latin pænitentia
    mirage
    "optical illusion of objects reflected in a sheet of water in hot, sandy deserts," 1800, in translations of French works, from French mirage (1753), from se mirer "to be reflected," from Latin mirare (see mirror (n.)). Or the French word is from Latin mirus "wonderful" (see mirac
    convention
    early 15c., convencioun, "a formal agreement, covenant, treaty," also "a formal meeting or convention" (of rulers, etc.), also "a private or secret agreement," from Old French convencion "agreement" and directly from Latin conventionem (nominative conventio) "a meeting, assembly;
    muster
    early 14c., moustren, "to display, reveal, to show or demonstrate" (senses now obsolete), also "to appear, be present," from Old French mostrer "appear, show, reveal," also in a military sense (10c., Modern French montrer), from Latin monstrare "to show," from monstrum "omen, sig
    mercurial
    late 14c., "pertaining to or under the influence of the planet Mercury," from Latin Mercurialis, from Mercurius (see Mercury). Meaning "pertaining to the god Mercury, having the form or qualities attributed to Mercury" (in reference to his role as god of trade or as herald and gu

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