Old English · noun

bæl

Normalised bǣl

Part of speech: noun, neuter
Declension: strong a-stem
IPA: /bæːl/
Syllables: bæːl (1 syllable)
Modern English: bale bonfire pyre funeral blaze

Meaning

funeral pyre, bonfire

wiþ lēofne ond wið lāþne bealo, þēah þe hē hine wille fȳres fulne oþþe on bǣle · forbærnedne his ġeworhtne wine.

Each of the men should handle with weight a beloved one or a loathsome evil, even if he might wish his made friend full of fire or burnt on bonfire.
Sċyle monna ġehwylċ · mid ġemete healdan
fire, flame, blaze

Frōd wæs mīn fromcynn … biden in burgum, siþþan bǣles weard wera … līfe bewunden, fȳre ġefǣlsad.

My offspring was wise … settled in towns, after men's watchman of the fire … hemmed in by live, cleansed by fire.
c. 980, Exeter Book Riddle 83:

Declension

Declension of bæl
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	bǣl	bǣl
Accusative	bǣl	bǣl
Genitive	bǣles	bǣla
Dative	bǣle	bǣlum

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *bāl, from Proto-Germanic *bēlą, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-. Cognate with Old Norse bál (whence Icelandic bál (“a fire; a conflagration”), Danish bål (“fire, bonfire, pyre”), Norwegian bål and Swedish bål (“pyre, bonfire”)). Further Indo-European cognates include Sanskrit भाल (bhāla, “splendour”), Ancient Greek φαλός (phalós, “white”) and Old Armenian բալ (bal, “fog”).

Descendants

bale

Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bæl · CC BY-SA 4.0 licence · Attribution