ADDER, a name for the common viper ( Vipera cevus), ranging |
An adder is a name for the common viper? (Vipera cevus), ranging |
later nadder or naddre |
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 |