Obs. Forms: 1 ealdfæder, 3 aldevader, 4 aldfader, eldefader, eld(e-, eeldefadir, 5 eldfader, -fadyre, elfadyr, 6 elfader, eldefather. [OE. (WS.) ealdfæder, f. eald, ELD a., OLD, + FATHER; cf. OS., OFris. aldfader, OHG. altfater, mod.G. altvater patriarch, ancestor. The occurrence in northern dialects of the forms with eld- (as if from WS. eald) has not been accounted for. Cf. ELDMOTHER.
Sense 2 does not occur in the other Teut. langs.; the form elfadyr has given rise to a suggestion that it is a distinct word, f. OE. ęl- other; but this is against the evidence of the older forms.]
1. A grandfather; a forefather in general.
Beowulf, 373 (Gr.). Wæs his ealdfæder Ecgþeo haten.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. xv. 15. Þu soþlice forþfærst … to þinum ealdfæderum.
c. 1205. Lay., 31009. He wes Mærwales fader; Mildburȝe aldeuader.
c. 1325. Metr. Hom., 122. Hir aldfader cal I Adam.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., II. iv. 40. Þer shineþ þe lyknesse of þe witte of hir fadir and of hir eldefadir.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XIII. 694. Eftir his gude eld-fadir [he] was Callit robert.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VII. viii. 230. Oure Kyng of Scotland, Dawy … Wes eld-fadyre til oure kyng Willame.
1460. Capgrave, Chron., 24. Sarugh, whech was eld-fader to Abraham.
2. A father-in-law.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 165. Nis þe gist siker of þe husebonde . ne þe aldefader of his oðem.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 5730. Moyses … was sett to kepe All his eildfader scepe.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 137. Elfadyr, socer.
1510. Will of Bakeber (Somerset Ho.). To be bestowed at the mind of myn elfader.
1634. Will, in Acts Durham High Commiss. Crt. (1857), 17, note. In the parish Church of St. Nicholas as neare my eld-father, Charles Slingsbye … as possible may be.
