Etymology Dictionary

ALDER,  a kind of tree.  (E.)   Chaucer has alder, C. T. 2923 (Kn. Ta. 2063).   'Aldyr-tre or oryelle tre, alnus;'  Prompt. Parv. p. 9.   [The letter d is, however, merely excrescent, exactly as in alder-first, often used for aller-first, i.e. first of all; or as in alder-liefest, used by Shakespeare for aller-liefest.   Hence the older form is aller.]   'Coupet de aunne, of allerne;'  Wright's Vocabularies, i. 171; 13th century.—A.S. alr, an alder-tree = Lat. alnus; Ælfric's Glossary, Nomina Arborum. + Du. els, alder; elzen, aldern; elzen-boom, alder-tree. + Icel. elrir, elri, ölr, an alder. + Swed. al. + Dan. elle, el. + O.H.G. elira, erila, erla; M.H.G. erle; G. erle; prov. G. eller, else. + Lat. alnus. + Lithuanian elksznis (with excrescent k), an alder-tree. + Church-Slavonic elicha, jelucha, olcha, an alder-tree; Russian olekha.   See Fick, i. 500, who gives the Lith. and Slavonic forms, and gives alsna as the original form of the stem.—✔AL, to grow; connected with ✔AR, to rise.   From the same root we have old, ad-ult, elm; cf. Göthe's 'erl-king,' i.e. alder-king.   See Elm.   ¶ Ihre's notion of connecting alder with a word al, water, which he supposes to exist in some Teutonic dialects, is wholly inadequate to account for the wide-spread use of the word.   See Aliment.