What language is the source of the English words easel?

Answer 1

well there is really only 1 English word easeltho it has 2 distinct meanings

the common device long used by painters on the one hand

& on the other the less familiar device more recently adapted from it by photographers

but this single word easel

came in the late 16th century from the single dutch word for both an easel & an ass

which was & still is ezel

& both English easel & dutch ezel ultimately derive from the latin word for ass also

which is or was asinus

& its diminutive variations

which are or were asinulus & asellus

the image of a 4 legged framework as a beast of burden is also found in a gymnasts horse & a woodworkers donkey or sawhorse etc

tho the notion of a painters ass is perhaps more from the language of laughter