Re: My column on Alfred
in reply to a message by clevelandkentevans
Alfred is the contemporaneous Latinised form of his Old English name, as used on coinage. By analogy with his brothers (who ALL had names beginning with Aþel-) his original name must have been Aeþelfriþ, not Aelfræd, like the German bishop. Al-/Ael- is a common abbreviation of Aþel- and Alfred is simply the shorter, more convenient Latin form. I'm assuming Altfrid is a copyist error or folk etymology?