Aveline

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A feminine first name of French origin ; the French word for a hazelnut, the nut of the hazel shrub
2. A woman's given name borrowed from French ; a term meaning hazelnut, used in French for the nut of the hazel tree
3. Used as a girl's first name with French roots ; in French, the word denoting the hazelnut fruit of the hazel bush

Etymology: Aveline is a given name whose source is a common French word for the hazelnut, "avelaine," itself drawn from the Latin "avellana," meaning a nut from Avella, a town in Campania in southern Italy. The Latin term was used for the hazel tree's fruit, and the French adopted it into the vocabulary of the countryside long before anyone thought of it as a name. The name followed the same route as many medieval French words that gave rise to personal names. Like other nature-derived given names from that period, it came into use as a woman's name, with French speakers choosing it for its pleasant sound rather than for any saint or legendary figure. The name later spread into English and other languages, where it is generally treated as a feminine form linked to that original nut meaning.