ordal

Forms

ordāl n (strong a-stem; genitive singular ordāles)^[1] Also ordēl and ordol.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *uʀdailī (“something meted out, allotment”), a noun made to *uʀdailijan (“to mete out”).^[1] Within Old English it is made up of or- and dāl (“part, portion”).^[4][1] The same word is Old Frisian ordēl, Old Saxon urdēli and Old High German urteil.^[4][5]

Bosworth and Toller point out that in Old Frisian, Old Saxon and Old High German the word means a judicial decision in general, while Old English, like Old Frisian, has it only for a judgement obtained by appeal to God.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is known only from the laws, a few glosses and homilies, and none of these is dated by its manuscript in the record.^[6] Liebermann lists it in the codes from I Edward and II Æthelstan to those of Cnut, and in the tract on the ordeal.^[2] Æthelstan's laws lay down that the accused shall fast on bread, water, salt and herbs, hear mass for three days, and gá tó húsle ðý dæge ðe hé tó ðam ordále gán scyle “and go to communion on the day on which he is to go to the ordeal”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The ordeal was a religious procedure: the accused carried hot iron or plunged a hand into boiling water, up to the wrist or the elbow according to the charge.^[3] Köbler also gives the sense “the instrument of the ordeal”.^[4] The Latin version in Liebermann's edition renders it mostly ordalium.^[2]

In Middle English ordal meant a trial by ordeal and the right to hold one.^[7]

Timeline

• a1425 (c1385) – Middle English By ordal or by oth in Chaucer's Troilus.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. a trial by ordeal, a judgement of God.^[3][4][8]
2. the instrument used in an ordeal.^[4]

Descendants

• Middle English ordel (→ English ordeal; Scots ordeil)^[1]
• Middle English ordal^[1][7]
• Medieval Latin ordālium (→ Old French ordel)^[1]

Related words

• dǣlan

Usage notes

The adjective ordǣle “having no share in”, which glosses Latin “expers”, has a separate entry in the dictionaries.^[3][8][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 167
3. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 764
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ordāl
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
6. ^ Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
7. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
8. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 156
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ordǣle