Sandel

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A surname that may refer to various notable individuals ; a term occasionally used as a variant spelling of a lightweight shoe with straps ; a possible place name or rare family name in some cultures
2. A family name associated with people in academic or literary fields ; an alternative or archaic spelling of a footwear style with open construction ; an uncommon geographic or ancestral designation
3. The last name of certain prominent figures in philosophy or public life ; an infrequent historical spelling for a strapped open shoe ; a less common locality or ethnic identifier

Etymology: The spelling "sandel" is an older form of "sandal," which came into Middle English from Old French "sandale," itself from Latin "sandalium," borrowed from Greek "sandalion," a diminutive of "sandalon." The Greek word's own origin is uncertain, and it may come from a non-Greek language of the eastern Mediterranean. The Greek sense was simply a light shoe, a sole held on the foot by straps, which is the same basic idea behind the modern word. Spellings like "sandel" were common before English spelling became standardized, so writers recorded the word as it sounded to them. The form survives mainly in historical texts and in names, where the spelling was fixed long after the everyday word changed. The surname is a separate matter, not a shoe term, and it does not descend from the footwear word.

Synonyms: sandal