Forms: α. 4–5 ele, hele, 5 ille, eill(e, eyle, 5–6 yle, ylle, 5–8 ile, (5 ilde). β. (6 yland) 6–8 isle. γ. 8 aile, ayle, 8– aisle. [Orig. a. OFr. ele, eele:—L. āla wing (contr. from axilla). Refashioned in Fr. after L. as aelle 15th c., æle, aile 16th c.; in 15th–16th c. Fr. also occas. written aisle in imitation of med.L. ascella, the common term for the wing of a building, for L. axilla. In Eng. confused in 15th c. with ile, yle island (perh. with the idea of a detached or distinct portion of a church), and refashioned with this, a. 1700, as isle; recently modified after Fr. aile to aisle. The latter spelling is thus a cross between isle and aile, and has no connection with earlier Fr. aisle. It was hesitatingly admitted by Johnson 1755; see quot. 4 b. Lat. āla besides being confounded in mediæval use with aula, was confused with OFr. alee, Fr. allée, Eng. alley, which led to a mixture of the senses of aisle and ALLEY; while the confusion with ile, isle, made yland an occasional Eng. equivalent, and insula the ordinary Lat. rendering in 15–16th c.]
1. A wing or lateral division of a church; the part on either side of the nave, usually divided from the latter by a row of pillars.
α. c. 1370. Inscr. in Cawston Ch. ‘Orate pro animâ Roberti Oxburgh … qui istud ele fieri fecit.’
1398. in Reg. Test. Ebor., I. 219. Ecclesiæ de Schirefhoton ad ponendum plumbum super le south hele xxs. Ibid. (1410), IV. 42. The foresaid Richard hase undirtaken for to make the south eill.
1418. in E. E. Wills (1883), 38. Þat it go to þe Lee Cherche, to þe Eyle. Ibid. (1428). The Ille of the toon Side of the Cloistere.
1428. in R. Test. Eb., II. 665. In portica qui vulgariter ye yle S. M. dicitur.
1463. in Bury Wills (1850), 38. If ther be maad an ele ther the vestry is.
1471. Sir J. Paston, in Lett., 676, III. 16. The grounde off the qwyr is hyer than the grownde off the ilde.
1490. in R. Test. Eb., IV. 60. To be beried in the Trinite church, in the north ile. Ibid. (1533), XI. 61. In the ylle affore our Lady.
1577. Hanmer, Anc. Eccles. Hist. (1619), 189. He builded seats and goodly yles on either side.
1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, 121. Then he comes vpon thee with I’le, I’le, I’le. Hee might as well write against Poules for hauing three Iles in it.
1681. Wyndham, King’s Concealm., 85. He sate in an Ile distinct from the body of the Congregation.
1711. Pope, Temp. Fame, 265. And arches widen, and long iles extend.
1756. J. Warton, Ess. on Pope (1782), I. § 6. 339. The long ile of a great Gothic church.
β. 1590. Wills & Invent. N. Counties (1860), II. 183. In the portch in the south yland of the church.
1673. Ray, Journ. Low Countries, 261. A double isle on each side the nave.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 20, ¶ 2. One whole isle has been disturbed with one of these monstrous starers.
1772. Pennant, Tours in Scotl. (1774), 58. On the isles on each side are some strange legendary painting.
1796. Pegge, Anonym. (1809), 251. One cannot approve of the mode of writing isles of a church … The absurdity appears from the will of Richard Smith, Vicar of Wirksworth, made in 1504, wherein he makes a bequest for the reparation ‘Imaginis S’ti Marie in insulâ predicti eccles. de Wyrkysworth.’
γ. 1742. Richardson, Pamela, III. 397. As up the Ayle, with Mind disturb’d, I walk.
[See Aisle 1755 in 4 b, 1789 in 4 a.]
1782. V. Knox, Ess. (1819), II. lxviii. 54. As he treads the solemn aile.
1821. W. Craig, Drawing, &c., vii. 368. Grave-stones occasionally found in the ailes.
1848. Lytton, Harold, IV. ii. 85. As the swell of an anthem in an aisle.
[δ. 1358. in Reg. Thoresby (York). In posteriori parte porticus sive aulæ … in loco eminenciore dicti porticus sive alæ.]
2. fig.
1807. Bewick, Quadrupeds, 354. A Hound bitch … pupped four whelps during a hard chase, which she carefully covered in a rush aisle.
1854. J. Abbott, Napoleon (1855), II. xxi. 385. Through the deep aisles of the forest.
1878. B. Taylor, Deukalion, II. v. 93. Arching aisles of the pine, receive us.
† 3. Cross aisle: a transept. Obs.
1451. in R. Test. Eb., II. 157. Ad facturam—de lez crosse yles.
a. 1500. W. Worcestre, 290 (in Parker’s Gloss. Arch., s.v.). Longitudo de la crosse eele … In medio de la crosse eele scituatur.
1662. Fuller, Worthies, III. 144. The Cross Isle of this Church is the most beautifull and lightsome of any I have yet beheld.
1772. Hist. Rochester, 58. At the entrance of the choir is a great cross isle.
4. By extension of the strict architectural meaning, used also for: a. Any division of a church.
1762. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Painting (1786), III. 106. A pillar in the middle isle of the church.
1789. Mrs. Piozzi, France & It., II. 100. Warwick Castle would be contained in its middle aisle.
1835. Whewell, Germ. Churches (ed. 2), 26. Among the liberties taken with language … I should mention the employment of the word ‘aisle’ for the central space, nave or choir, as well as for the lateral spaces of a building.
1836. Parker, Gloss. Arch., s.v., Many writers of authority apply the word Isle to the central as well as the lateral compartments. Thus Brown Willis [a 1760] has ‘middle Isle’ repeatedly, and even describes the Cathedral Church of Man as consisting of two single Isles crossing each other.
1861. Nicholson, Annals of Kendal, 42. The church … consists of the nave, chancel, and four side aisles, so that it consists of five open aisles.
b. (By confusion with ALLEY) A passage in a church between the rows of pews or seats.
1731–42. Bailey, Isles, Certain straight Passages between Pews within a Church.
1755. Johnson, ‘Aisle [Thus written by Addison, but perhaps improperly, since it seems deducible only from either aile a wing, or allée a path, and is therefore to be written aile.] The walks in a church or wings of a quire.’
1766. Goody Two-Shoes (1881), 55. I then walked up and down all the Isles of the Church.
1856. E. B. Denison, Ch. Build., iii. 113. An aisle is … a wing, not a passage, as people seem to imagine who talk of the ‘middle aisle’ of a church.
1871. Congreg. Year-bk., 410. The aisles and lobbies of the church are laid in tiles.
