Etymology

Formed on balefull.

PGmc Ancestor

*balwan

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

bǫl ‘misfortune, woe, malice’
(ONP bǫl (sb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far bøl, Icel böl

OE Cognate

bealu, balu ‘woe, harm, destruction; malice; pain, suffering, torment’; bealufull

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

Attestation

Found only in alliterative verse in ME, inc. William of Palerne.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Erk 311; WA 155

Bibliography

MED bālefullī (adv.), OED balefully (adv.), Dance bale, de Vries bǫl, Mag. böl, Bammesberger 243, Orel *ƀalwan, Kroonen *balwa-, AEW bealu, DOE bealu (n.); bealufull (adj.)