one of the oldest written words in the english language still in usage -- NOT!

[Laurence Horn]

At 5:54 PM -0500 3/4/04, Mark A. Mandel wrote:
>Joshua Nimocks clarifies:
>
>#I'm sorry.  I should have specified: alder, 'the head of a family or
>#clan.'
>
>I'm sorry, I don't think that's still in usage.

FWIW, in some communities (e.g. New Haven), "alder" is used
(sex-neutrally) for what "alderman" used to be used for.  It doesn't
quite mean "parent, elder" or "patriarch, ruler", but it's clearly
descended from and related to those uses.  (Aldermanic districts are
still so-called; I don't think I've heard "alderic".  I've always
liked the "-manic" part.)

larry horn

>
>OED OnLine (diacritics dropped for email):
>
>         >>>
>Obs.
>
>     1. Parent, ancestor, elder (chiefly in pl.). [In this sense only in
>OE.; superseded by the compar. of the adj. ald (eald), eldran: see
>ELDER.]
>
>     2. The head of a family or clan; a patriarch, chief, prince, or
>ruler. (Used to translate L. titles, as senior, princeps, dominus, dux.)
>         <<<
>
>The latest citation is "c1340". And "alderman" is as opaque as "woman".
>Obs., indeed.
>
>-- Mark A. Mandel
>    Linguistic Data Consortium, University of Pennsylvania