Etymology
Nearly all authorities are cautious and tentative in offering an etymon for ME n.
ladde 'servant, man of low birth, boy etc.', if they venture one at all. The problematic nature of the evidence is discussed by Whitehall (1939), whose discussion underlies the analogues given in the
MED entry (cited by e.g. Peterson).
MED raises the possibility of an Old Norse origin and offers as comparanda the late OE by-name
Ladda and the compound element
-ladd in Norw.
askeladd,
oske- 'youngest brother of several, a kind of male cinderella' and
tusseladd 'clumsy walker, bumpkin' (following Falk-Torp 1900-1906; on the alternation between
a- and
o-forms see Torp-Falk and Whitehall 1939: 23). As
OED notes, the existence of the OE by-name (possibly supported by later recorded Yks. place-names, e.g.
Ladgate; see
EPNE s.v.) argues against Bradley's (1894) suggestion that the ME n. might represent a definite form (a variant
lad) of pp.
led, with a pl.
ladde being used to refer to the followers of a lord. Whitehall argues, partially on the basis of distribution, for the probability of the word entering English via ON, and suggests it may derive from
*leuhdh- (PGmc v.
*leuðan- 'to grow'), specifically the pp. stem, cp. ON pp.
loðinn 'shaggy, thick' (which would allow for an earlier suggested etymological connection with the Go derivational form
-lauþs as in
juggalauþs 'young man', rejected by the
OED). This possibility remains speculative, as no such ON form is attested and the English textual evidence is late.
PGmc Ancestor
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
(ONP )
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Dan askeladd, Norw oskeladd, tusseladd
OE Cognate
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
D1c