compar. Obs. or dial. [f. ALD old. In OE. the compar. properly took umlaut ęldra for aldira, whence mod. ELDER; but a north. and midl. form alder, without umlaut, appears in 12th c., whence by usual change of long or lengthened a to o the mod. OLDER. Alder, aulder continues to be the form in Sc. and north. dialects; and occurs as an affected archaism in other writers c. 1600.]
1205. Layam., 3750. Of þan aldre sustren. Ibid., 8199. Þe king nom þreo aldere men [1250 holde men].
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 620. And ay the ofter, þe alder þay were.
1581. Studley, trans. Seneca’s Medea, 134 b. The wood in alder-time … Did spread his shade on gladsome soyle; no shade remayneth now.
1610. Holland, trans. Camden’s Brit., I. 806. Those that liv’d in alder time [Mod. Sc. aulder, Northumb. auder].
