adder [OE] One of the words Anglo-Saxons used for a snake was nædre, which became nadder in medieval times. From c.1300 onwards the word managed to lose its initial n, as people heard ‘a nadder’ and misinterpreted this as ‘an adder’. A northern dialect form nedder still exists. A similar process of ‘wrong division’ took place with words such as *apron and umpire (see pair), and the opposite can happen too, as with, for example, *newt and *nickname. In time adder became the term for a specific poisonous snake, also known as the *viper. The same change nearly happened to the word aunt [ME] (which comes from Latin amitia ‘aunt’), for between the 13th and 17th centuries ‘mine aunt’ can appear as ‘my naunt’. In France this change has happened: the word was ante in Old French, but is now tante through the running together of ta ‘your’ and ante. See also deaf.