gadling

Etymology

Comes from Middle English gadelyng (‘companion in arms; man, fellow; a person of low birth; rascal, scoundrel; bastard; base, lowborn’) and gadeling (‘vagabond’), which developed from Old English geaduling, gædeling (‘kinsman, fellow, companion in arms, comrade’), from Proto-West Germanic *gaduling, from Proto-Germanic *gadulingaz, *gadilingaz (‘relative, kinsman’), made up of gad and -ling. It is related to Old English ġegada (‘comrade, companion’).