Etymology

A substantival use of ME ille adj.

PGmc Ancestor

?*elhila- 

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

illr ‘ill, evil, bad’
(ONP illr (adj.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far illur, Icel illur, íllur, Norw ill, ODan ild, OSw ilder, Sw ill

OE Cognate

Phonological and morphological markers

[syncope] (possibly diagnostic) (may not be applicable)

[ON consonant cluster assimilation] (possibly diagnostic) (may not be applicable)

Summary category

B1c

Attestation

Generally N and E in ME, but occasionally further afield (incl. PP and Owl & N.) The adj. occurs as a northernism in CT.Rv.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 1811; Cl 577, 735; WA 3267*, 4216

Gaw 1811 read as elle by Madden

Bibliography

MED il(le (n.) , OED ill (adj. and n.) , HTOED , Dance ille (a)(n.), Bj. 171 (284n.1), de Vries illr, Mag. illur, Bj-L. ill, Kroonen *elhja-