This old discussion seems worthy of bringing up again. When I first was informed about the ayleurs being what AWADers called themselves (except those who balked at the term), I wondered what it meant.

I thought, "It must have something to do with wings--flights of fancy here--soaring with words..." And then someone else told me what it really meant.

Tonight I came across the old thread, read the discussion, and then tried to track down what it was in my memory that caused me to think of flight. Here's what I found in a OneLook reference:

aileron
noun [C]
SPECIALIZED
a movable part along the back edge of an aircraft's wing, used esp. to help the aircraft turn or to keep it level

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=aileron*1+0

...and:

1. aileron -- (an airfoil that controls lateral motion)

wing -- (one of the horizontal airfoils on either side of the fuselage of an airplane)

http://poets.notredame.ac.jp/cgi-bin/wn?cmd=wn&word=aileron

And then MW, which shows the etymology from the Fr. for "wing" (and that's what had been embedded in my memory by suggestion...):

Main Entry: ai·le·ron
Pronunciation: 'A-l&-"rän
Function: noun
Etymology: French, from diminutive of aile wing -- more at AISLE
Date: 1909
: a movable airfoil at the trailing edge of an airplane wing that is used for imparting a rolling motion especially in banking for turns -- see AIRPLANE illustration

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=aileron

So, all things considered and old arguments read, I still like my initial reaction to the word that it made me think of flight.

The reading's fun on this old thread, so I hope new people, like myself, will enjoy reading what the Aged Ones wrote.

Best regards,
WordWing