suffix, in OE. -els, repr. OTeut. -islo-z, -islo(m, -isljo(m, forming instrumental sbs. or verbal abstracts, chiefly from vbs. in (OTeut.) -jan. The suffix was very common in OE. as in ʓyrdels (in Epinal Glossary ʓyrdisl, -ils) girdle, byrʓels (BURIELS) tomb, græfels quarry, ríecels (REKELS) incense, rǽdels RIDDLE. The few words of this type that have survived into mod. English have lost their final s, owing to the original forms having been mistaken for plurals: see -LE.
