sparkel

Middle English

Alternative forms

• sparcle, sparkle, sparkull, sparkyl, sparkyll, spercle, sperkel, sperkull, sperkyl, sperkyll

Etymology

From sparke +‎ -el (agentive suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsparkəl/, /ˈspɛrkəl/

Noun

sparkel (plural sparkles)

1. 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.

2. (by extension) particle, mote
3. (figuratively) spark, germ

Related terms

• sparklen

Descendants

• English: sparkle

References

• “sparkle, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.