The word "athel" is a variant spelling of the word "ethel", which means "noble" or "noble-born". It is pronounced /ˈeðəl/ in Standard British English, with the first syllable containing the voiced dental fricative /ð/ and the second syllable containing the vowel sound /ə/. The spelling "athel" replaces the initial letter "e" with the letter "a", which does not affect the pronunciation of the word. However, this spelling variant is not commonly used in modern English.