Fellan

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Old English verb meaning to bring something down, whether by cutting it or striking it so that it falls to the ground
2. An archaic term for causing something to collapse or topple, especially by felling a tree or striking a person down
3. Meaning to make something fall, as when a tree is cut down or an opponent is knocked to the ground

Etymology: In Old English, "fellan" meant "to cause to fall," so it was the causative partner of "feallan," "to fall." Its ancestor, reconstructed as Proto-Germanic "*fallijanan," meant "to make fall," and the same root gave Old Norse "fella" and German "fällen," which still means "to fell" a tree. Literally, the verb says that something is brought down, not that it simply drops. English kept the causative sense for knocking down trees and people, and the modern verb "fell" is the direct descendant. The spelling also overlaps with a separate word: the past tense of "fall" is "fell," but that comes from the strong past tense of "feallan," not from the causative. Two unrelated-looking forms ended up identical on the page, one meaning "dropped" and the other "cut down."