Ealdord

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The starting point or source from which something first arose, a term used for an Old English word meaning beginning
2. The origin or first cause of a thing, as recorded in Old English usage for a beginning or commencement
3. The earliest point or source of something, an Old English noun referring to where a matter or practice began

Etymology: Old English "ealdord" is a compound of "ealdor" and "ord." "Ealdor" meant a leader or chief, and it also carried the sense of "life" or "age," from the same root as "eald," the Old English word for "old." "Ord" meant a point, such as a spear-point, and also a beginning. Put together, the compound was used for a beginning or origin, and by extension for a source or a foremost person. The word belongs to the Old English period and did not pass into Middle or modern English in common use, so it is now obsolete. Its surviving parts can be seen in English words like "elder" and "old," which share the "eald" root.