Post #2334705
2026-05-01 16:43 UTC
But the rabbit hole that sent me down is the list of other tool words formed with -el. Also from etymonline: “treadle, ladle, thimble, handle, spindle, girdle, whittle”.
Whittle is the one that interests me most:
> from Middle English whittel (n.) "a knife," especially a large one (c. 1400), variant of thwittle (early 14c.), from Old English þwitan "to cut,"
So it was originally thwit + el, meaning a tool for cutting, and then became a term for a specific kind of cutting.
There are three -el suffixes in English; the others are defined here:
https://www.etymonline.com/word/-el
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Replies (3)
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@Betty@fandom.ink 2026-05-01 16:54
@gannet@sunny.garden Huh, this makes me wonder about cutlery. I guess, a collection or assemblage of cutlers?
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@clew@ecoevo.social 2026-05-01 17:44
…. umbel? Is the tool -el in umbrella? @gannet@sunny.garden
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@philipbrewer@wandering.shop 2026-05-02 15:39
@gannet@sunny.garden Esperanto has -il- for making an instrument out of a root tranĉi (to cut) plus -li- for tranĉilo = knife. But I had no idea the same suffix used to exist in English!