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Ethel (also
æthel) is an Old English word meaning "noble". It is frequently attested as the first element in
Anglo-Saxon names, both masculine and feminine, e.g.
Æthelhard,
Æthelred,
Æthelwulf;
Æthelburg,
Æthelflæd,
Æthelthryth (Audrey). It corresponds to the
Adel- and
Edel- in continental names, such as
Adolph (Æthelwulf), Adalbert (Albert), Adelheid (Adelaide), Edeltraut and Edelgard. There would be some reason to believe that the word is actually taken from "aedilis" or "aedile", the Latin name of a Roman official, whose function was that of a magistrate and superintendent of public property. It was common that in smaller towns in the Roman era that the only public official was the aedile. Importantly, in later Roman times, the Aedile was in charge of the public treasury. The later clerical Latin translation of "aethel" as "clito" may be a reflection of the fact that there was no such formal position after the Roman civil authority disappeared. "Clito" was from "incluto" and an earlier Greek word that certainly did not mean "noble" in the sense of an inherited class status, but rather famous or illustrious.
