sparkel
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From sparke + -el (agentive suffix).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsparkəl/, /ˈspɛrkəl/
Noun
sparkel (plural sparkles)
- spark (glowing particle)
- a. 1333, Alcuin, “Poem 22: Quomodo se habet homo?; Fol. 204v”, in William Herebert, transl., Opera (British Library MS. Add. 46919)[1], Hereford; republished as The Works of William Herebert, OFM (Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse), [Ann Arbor]: University of Michigan, a. 2018:
- Also þe lanterne in þe wynd þat sone is aqueynt, / Ase sparkle in þe se þat sone is adreynt, / Ase vom in þe strem þat sone is tothwith, / Ase smoke in þe lift þat passet oure sith.
- Like a lantern in the wind that soon gets quenched, / Like a glimmer in the sea that soon gets drenched / Like foam in the water that soon is dispersed, / Like smoke in the sky that passes [in] our sight.
- (by extension) particle, mote
- (figuratively) spark, germ
Related terms
Descendants
- English: sparkle
References
- “sparkle, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.