Eggcorn Forum

Inspired by the fires of hail, it occurred to me that there might be quite a mother load of eggcorns based on ail/ell. JonW719 thought likewise back in ‘08, when considering the intriguing entry of “in tell” for entail.

So the “ell” for “ail” confusion is pretty rampant, certainly in spelling, and more than likely in pronunciation.

Jon added another interesting variant, intell. A quantum of intelligence. Others of that elk that come to mind are death nail for knell. Also easy to find is “The Farmer in the Dale”.

I don’t know when folks began verbing the the adjective ill for ailing, but it’s now a widespread eggcorn. The two words are etymological strangers. I can’t do better than to quote etymonline.

ill (adj.)
c.1200, “morally evil” (other 13c. senses were “malevolent, hurtful, unfortunate, difficult”), from O.N. illr “ill, bad,” of unknown origin. Not related to evil. Main modern sense of “sick, unhealthy, unwell” is first recorded mid-15c., probably related to O.N. idiom “it is bad to me.”

ail (v.)
c.1300, from O.E. eglan “to trouble, plague, afflict,” from P.Gmc. * azljaz (cf. O.E. egle “hideous, loathsome, troublesome, painful;” Goth. agls “shameful, disgraceful,” agliþa “distress, affliction, hardship,” us-agljan “to oppress, afflict”), from PIE * agh- lo-, suffixed form of root * agh- “to be depressed, be afraid.” Related: Ailed; ailing; ails.

OK, it’s not an ail for ell switch, the post was just inspired by that. We’ve lost some interesting words: That was an azljaz project. Don’t mind me, I’m just a bit agh. After the agliþa of that last assignment.