also nurseling, "object of a nurse's care, one who is nursed, an infant," 1550s, from nurse (v.) + -ling. Earlier was norseling, in alchemy, "a substance in a preparatory stage" (c. 1500).
Entries linking to nursling
nurse v.
1530s, "to suckle (an infant), nourish at the breast;" 1520s in the passive sense, "to bring up" (a child); alteration of Middle English nurshen, norishen "to supply with food and drink, feed; bring up, nurture" (c. 1300; see nourish), in part by influence of nurse (n.1). From 1540s as "promote growth or vigor in, encourage." Sense of "tend to in sickness or infirmity" is recorded by 1736. Related: Nursed; nursing.
-ling
diminutive word-forming element, early 14c., from Old English -ling a nominal suffix (not originally diminutive), from Proto-Germanic *-linga-; attested in historical Germanic languages as a simple suffix, but probably representing a fusion of two suffixes: 1. that represented by English -el (1), as in thimble, handle; and 2. -ing, suffix indicating "person or thing of a specific kind or origin;" in masculine nouns also "son of" (as in farthing, atheling, Old English horing "adulterer, fornicator"), from PIE *-(i)ko- (see -ic).
Both these suffixes had occasional diminutive force, but this was only slightly evident in Old English -ling and its equivalents in Germanic languages except Norse, where it commonly was used as a diminutive suffix, especially in words designating the young of animals (such as gæslingr "gosling"). Thus it is possible that the diminutive use that developed in Middle English is from Old Norse.