yle

See also: Yle

Middle English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈiːlə/

Etymology 1

From Medieval Latin hȳlē (“matter, the fundamental matter of all things; the matter of the body”) (whence English hyle), a transliteration of Ancient Greek ὕλらむだηいーた (húlē, “wood; material, substance; matter”) or πρώτη ὕλらむだηいーた (prṓtē húlē, “fundamental matter”). The concept of “fundamental matter” was propounded by the Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle (384–322 BCE).

Noun

yle (uncountable)

1. (philosophy) Matter.
   • 1390, John Gower, Confessio Amantis [The Lover's Confession]; published as Reinhold Pauli, editor, Confessio Amantis of John Gower: Edited and Collated with the Best Manuscripts by Dr. Reinhold Pauli, volume III, London: Bell and Daldy Fleet Street, 1857, OCLC 162886391, liber septimus [book 7], pages 91–92:

     For yet withouten any forme
     Was that matere univerſal,
     Which hight Ylem in ſpeciall.
     Of Ylem as I am enformed,
     Theſe elements ben made and formed,
     Of Ylem elements they hote
     After the ſcole of Ariſtote,
     Of which if more I ſhall reherce,
     Four elements there ben diverſe.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Alternative forms

• hile
• hyla
• ylem

References

• Bradley Strattman, A Middle-English Dictionary [12th–15th century], Oxford University Press, 1891 (1967)
• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “yle”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Etymology 2

From Old French isle, from Latin īnsula.

Alternative forms

• ile

Noun

yle (plural yles)

1. Isle, island.
   • 1390, Geoffrey Chaucer, “Man of Law's Tale”, in Canterbury Tales:

     The bareyne ile stondynge in the see.

     The barren isle standing in the sea.

Descendants

• English: isle