ADDER, a name for the common viper ( Vipera cevus), ranging '
from Wales to Saghalien island, and from Caithness to the north '
of Spain. The puff-adder (Bitis s. Echidna arietans) of '
nearly the whole of Africa, and the death-adder (Acanthophis '
antarcticus) from
Australia to the Moluccas, are both very '
poisonous (see VIPER). The word was in Old Eng. noedre, '
later nadder or naddre; in the 14th century "a nadder" '
was, like "a napron," wrongly divided into "an adder." It '
appears with the generic meaning of "serpent" in the older '
forms of many Teutonic languages, cf. Old High Ger. natra; '
Goth. nadrs. It is thus used in the Old Eng. version of '
the Scriptures for the devil, the "serpent" of Genesis. '
'
Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed
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