Etymology: < Old Norse gǽla blandishment.

Etymology: Origin uncertain; perhaps < an unattested Old English noun (see note) cognate with Old Icelandic geil narrow or enclosed pathway, such as through a glen or a lane (Icelandic geil ), Norwegian geil road with fencing on both sides, lane between houses < the same Germanic base as (with different ablaut grade) Old Icelandic gil (see gill n.⁴). Compare (in different sense) Icelandic geila to separate.In Old English the verb is a weak verb of Class I and apparently shows the reflex of i-mutation of long ā in the stem vowel. Compare northern Middle English (rare) gāle way, course (compare discussion at goal n.), which may show a reflex of the unattested Old English cognate of the Scandinavian nouns. Alternatively, it has been suggested that transitive use in sense a shows a verb derived < gole adj. (weak verb of Class I; compare weak Class II verb Old English gālian to be wanton or licentious (in isolated attestation)), but intransitive use in Old English (compare sense b) shows a different, unrelated word, a prefixed form of eld v.² (compare y- prefix). However, derivation < gole adj. poses semantic problems, while derivation < y- prefix + eld v.² is formally impossible for Middle English gele (only attested in quot. c1400). Prefixed verbs in Old English. In Old English the prefixed form agǣlan is also attested in the senses ‘to neglect, to defer, to hinder, to profane’ (compare a- prefix¹ and compare further agālian to become slack (weak Class II)); compare also (Northumbrian) forgǣla to shun (compare for- prefix¹), tōgǣlan to profane (compare to- prefix²).