atheling

American  

[ath-uh-ling, ath-] / ˈæθ ə lɪŋ, ˈæð- /

Or aetheling

noun

Early English History.

1. a man of royal blood; a prince.

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atheling British  

/ ˈæθɪlɪŋ /

noun

1. (in Anglo-Saxon England) a prince of any of the royal dynasties

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Etymology

Origin of atheling

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English ætheling (cognate with Old High German ediling, adalung, Old Saxon ethiling ), equivalent to æthel(u) “noble family” (cognate with Old High German adoul, German Adel, Old Saxon athal(i), Old Norse athal “nature”; akin to Tocharian atäl “man”) + -ing noun suffix; see -ing ³

Example Sentences

King Alfred and Edward the atheling have come against the city, and Dane and Saxon alike have acknowledged him as overlord.

From A Maid at King Alfred?s Court by Madison, Lucy Foster

I, too, would see the king, and what manner of man the atheling be.

From A Maid at King Alfred?s Court by Madison, Lucy Foster

"I have three chiefs in my mind who can match these," said our atheling.

From King Olaf's Kinsman A Story of the Last Saxon Struggle against the Danes in the Days of Ironside and Cnut by Whistler, Charles W. (Charles Watts)

“She said that she would give it me were the youth and the maiden of the forest the same as the atheling and his sister,” said Ethelred, merrily.

From A Maid at King Alfred?s Court by Madison, Lucy Foster

In another law of the same Athelstan, the weregild of the prince or atheling, is said to be fifteen thousand thrimsas.

From The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part A. From the Britons of Early Times to King John by Hume, David