Etymology Dictionary

KINDLE (1),  to set fire to, inflame.  (Scand.,—E.,—L.)   M.E. kindlen; Chaucer, C. T. 12415; Havelok, 915; Ormulum, 13442.   Formed from Icel. kyndill, a candle, torch.   [The Icel. verb kynda, to light a fire, kindle, may be nothing else than a verb formed from the same sb., and not an original verb.   According to Ihre, the Old Swed. has only the sb., occurring in the comp. kyndelmessa, Candlemass.]   β. The Icel. has also kyndill-messa, Candlemas; shewing, indubitably, that the word was borrowed from the A.S. candel, a candle (whence candel-mæsse, Candlemas), at the time of the introduction of Christianity into Iceland.   γ. Again, the A.S. candel is merely borrowed from Lat. candela; thus explaining the close resemblance of the Icel. to the Lat. word.   ¶ An original Icel. word corresponding to Latin words beginning with c would, by Grimm's law, begin with h.   See Candle.   Der. kindl-er.

KINDLE (2),  to bring forth young.  (E.)   'The cony that you see dwell where she is kindled;' As You Like It, iii. 2. 358.   M.E. kindlen, kundlen.   'Thet is the uttre uondunge thet kundleð wreððe' = it is the outward temptation that produces wrath, Ancren Riwle, p. 194, l. 20:  where we also find, immediately below, the sentence:  'thus beoð the inre uondunges the seouen heaued-sunnen and hore fule kundles' = thus the inward temptations are the seven chief sins and their foul progeny.   Cf. also:  'Kyndlyn, or brynge forthe yonge kyndelyngis, Feto, effeto;' Prompt. Parv. p. 275.   And in Wyclif, Luke, iii. 7, we find 'kyndlis of edderis' in the earlier, and 'kyndlyngis of eddris' in the later version, where the A.V. has 'generation of vipers.'   β. The verb kindlen, to produce, and the sb. kindel, a generation, are of course due to the sb. kind; see Kind (1).   We may probably regard the sb. kindel as a dimin. of kind, and the verb as formed from it.   Both words refer, in general, to a numerous progeny, a litter, esp. with regard to rabbits, &c.