A dialectal or archaic term, possibly referring to a small devil or a mischievous creature in folklore.
Likely a diminutive form of 'devil' (from Latin diabolus) with the -in suffix common in Middle English for creating smaller or endearing versions of words.
Medieval English had wonderful diminutive suffixes—adding -in or -ling to 'devil' created 'develin' for mischievous spirits in folklore, similar to how we now say 'demonling' in fantasy fiction!
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