Athelstan
/ˈæθ.əlˌstæn/ proper noun
Forms Athelstane
- proper noun (rare) A male given name.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun A small town south of Huntingdon in Quebec, Canada.
- proper noun A community in Iowa.
- proper noun A king of the Anglo-Saxons.
Etymology
An Anglo-Saxon male given name derived from Old English æþele (“noble”) and stān (“stone”), meaning "Gem". Old English variants are Æþelstān and Æðelstān. In modern English it is also found as Æthelstan, Athelstane, Addleston, Athelston, Athelstone and Ethelstone, usually surnames or place names. It is akin to the Dutch noun edelsteen and German noun and surname Edelstein and the Icelandic male given name Aðalsteinn.
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “Athelstan”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details