Alderney. In French Aurigny, from the Latin Aurinia, Isle of Light.
Aldersgate Street. From the ancient city gate near which grew several fine alder-trees.
Aldgate. From the Auld Gate of Saxon London, the earliest of the city gates.
Aldine Editions. Early editions of the classics produced and given to the world by Aldo Manuzio, the celebrated printer of Venice, in the sixteenth century.
Aldwych. An old name for a magnificent new thoroughfare which has taken the place of quaint, out-of-date Wych Street, anciently described as Auld Wych, leading as it did to the old village, whose parish church was that of St Giles’s in the Fields.
Ale-stake. The pole anciently set up in front of an alehouse. This was at first surmounted by a bush, in imitation of a wine bush; later it became exchanged for a sign.
Ale-wife. An old name for the wife of a tavern keeper.
Alexandra Limp. When our present Queen, as Princess of Wales, having sustained an injury to her knee, was walking lame, it became the fashion to imitate her gait.
Alexandria. The city founded by Alexander the Great, B.C. 332.
Aleutian Islands. From the Russian aleut, “bald rock.”