Forms: 1–2 wela; 1 weola (3 weolla), 3–4 weole (2 wole); 1 weala (3 wale); 2–6 wele (3–4 wel, well), 5–6 weel(e (5 weell), 5 weyle; Sc. 5–6 weile (6 weille), 5–7 weill, weil (6 veill, veil), 6 weyll, 8 weel; 6–7 weale, 6– weal. [OE. wela (weola, weala) wk. masc. = OS. welo, OHG. wolo:—OTeut. *welon-, f. root *wel-: see WELL adv.
The 14th-cent. northern form wel (well) is merely a variant spelling, and the length of the vowel is proved by rhymes; but from the 15th cent. in midland and southern texts a real confusion between wēle and wēl appears, owing to the currency of double forms of the adverb ‘well.’ In consequence of this the noun is sometimes written wel, well, or welle, and in this form is latterly identified in pronunciation with the adv. (For examples see WELL sb.2) On the other hand the adv. in the form wele or weele has influenced the meaning of the noun in sense 4 below, and probably contributed to its use in sense 3 (and in WEAL-PUBLIC) as an equivalent of L. bonum and F. bien.]
† 1. Wealth, riches, possessions. Obs. (as distinct from 2).
Often world-, world’s, worldly weal.
c. 888. Ælfred, Boeth., xi. § 1. Ac for bearnleste eallne þone welan þe hi ʓegaderiʓað hi lætað fræmdum to brucanne.
971. Blickl. Hom., 197. Se man ahte mycelne welan.
c. 1205. Lay., 7732. For eowre muchele wurðscipe weole ȝe scullen habben.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 196. Ant te world bit mon ȝiscen worldes weole, & wunne, & wurschipe.
a. 1250. Prov. Ælfred, 120. Wyþ-vte wysdome is weole wel vnwurþ.
1340–70. Alex. & Dind., 32. For what richesse, rink, vs miȝht þou bireue, Whan no wordliche wele is wiþ us founde?
c. 1400. 26 Pol. Poems, viii. 68. Beter is litel ryȝtwys wonne … Þan … Wiþouten desert take pore mennys wele.
1531. Elyot, Governor, I. i. In our olde vulgare, profite is called weale.
1594. Greene & Lodge, Looking Gl., III. ii. 1057 (Collins). Behold with ruthfull eyes Thy parents robd of all their worldly weale By subtle meanes of vsurie and guile.
1838. Prescott, Ferd. & Is., I. I. i. 119. He paid the usual penalty of such indifference to worldly weal, by seeing himself eventually stripped of his lordly possessions.
† b. pl. Obs.
c. 900. Bæda’s Hist., IV. xi. (1890), 294. Ond he sundorliif & munucliif wæs forebeorende allum þam weolum & arum þæs eorðlecan riices.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke viii. 14. Þæt synd þa ðe … of welum [Vulg. divitiis] & of lustum þyses lifes synd forþrysmode.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 111. Ðu gederast mare and mare … and þine welan forrotiað beforan þine ehȝan.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4503. Man þat weltres in his welis And, thoru his welth, na fautes felis.
1543. Recorde, Gr. Artes, B iij b. How many waies also Arithmetike is conducible for al priuat weales of Lordes and all possessioners.
1628. Pemble, Salomon’s Recant., 24. Dislike and Hatred of all his magnificent workes, weales, possessions and pleasures.
† c. Pomp, splendor, rich array. Obs.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., 264/123. For no Monuk ne scholde gon out þar-of, þe worldes weole to seo.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 37. This duc … Whan he was come almoost vn to the toun In al his wele and in his mooste pride.
† d. Stores, supplies. Obs.
13[?]. Coer de L., 4786. Agaynes hem comen her naveye, Cogges, and dromoundes, many galeye,… That were chargyd with al weel, With armour and with other vytayle.
c. 1400. Emare, 824. He lette ordeyne shypus fele, And fylled hem fulle of wordes wele, Hys men mery wyth to make.
2. Welfare, well-being, happiness, prosperity.
a. 1000. Cædmon’s Gen., 431. Siððan bið him se wela onwended & wyrð him wite ʓeʓearwod.
a. 1122. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1086. Eala hu leas & hu unwrest is þysses middaneardes wela.
c. 1205. Lay., 10394. He heom wolden mucle wele & wurðscipe itæchen.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 192. Þeo ilke uondunges … wendeð efterward to weole and to eche blisse.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 809. Abram let loth in welðe and wale.
13[?]. Guy Warw., 822. Wele is him þat it winne may.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 2243. For now is Palamon in alle wele.
c. 1477. Caxton, Jason, 50 b. I am right ioyous of thy wele and worship.
1491. Act 7 Hen. VII., c. 12, Preamble. Dedis of charite … to be doon for him … for the wele of his soule.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Rom. vi. 15. Ye nowe are become Christes seruauntes, whose seruice is all weale and blisse.
1612. Bacon, Ess., Goodness (Arb.), 198. I take goodnesse in this sence, the affecting of the Weale of men, which is that the Græcians call Philanthropia.
1642. D. Rogers, Naaman, 165. To read Masse or Dirigies for the weale of his soule after his decease.
1805. Scott, Last Minstrel, VI. xxvii. And monks should sing, and bells should toll, All for the weal of Michael’s soul.
1822. Good, Study Med. (1829), I. 396. The flux … becomes a conditional of the corporeal weal.
1859. Tennyson, Enid, 799. I doubted whether daughter’s tenderness, Or easy nature, might not let itself Be moulded by your wishes for her weal.
b. freq. in contrast with woe († wowe).
a. 1000. Cædmon’s Gen., 466. Þæt þær yldo bearn moste onceosan godes & yfeles, gumena æʓhwilc welan & wawan.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 29. Ne on wele ne on wauȝhe.
a. 1225. Prov. Ælfred, 142. For God may yeue, þenne he wule, god after vuele, weole after wowe.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4054. His waa, his well, yee sal here bath.
c. 1300. Havelok, 2777. For vel ne for wo.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVIII. 202–4.
| Faste fret of that frut · and for-soke, as hit were, | |
| The leet loue of our lorde · and hus lore bothe, | |
| And flowede that the feonde tauhte · and hus fleshes wil. |
c. 1400. Pride of Life, 376, in Non-Cycle Myst. Plays, 100. Þer is dred & sorow & wo wytoutin wel.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, I. xii. 51. How they sware that for wele nor woo they shold not leue other.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. viii. 43. But welcome now my Lord, in wele or woe.
1667. Milton, P. L., VIII. 638. Thine and of all thy Sons The weal or woe in thee is plac’t.
1771. Beattie, Minstr., I. xxix. All human weal and wo learn thou to make thine own.
1814. Scott, Lord of Isles, IV. v. ‘Come weal, come woe, by Bruce’s side,’ Replied the Chief, ‘will Ronald bide.’
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., cxxix. 2. Dear friend, far off, my lost desire, So far, so near in woe and weal.
1863. Miss Braddon, Aurora Floyd, xv. Impulsive and impetuous, she had always taken her own course, whether for weal or woe.
1897. Q. Victoria, in Daily News, 17 July, 5/4. In weal and woe I have ever had the true sympathy of all my people.
† c. pl. Obs.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 154. & euer me þoȝt I schulde not wonde For wo, þer welez so wynne wore.
1483. Caxton, Golden Leg., 260/2. Thou arte begynnynge myddell and ende of alle weles and goodes.
c. 1500. Three Kings’ Sons, 24. He [God] hath gyuen me more of weles than y haue or can deserue.
1544. Late Exped. Scot. (1798), 13. To proue whether the Scottes had yet learned, by theyr importable losses lately chaunced to them, to tendyr theyr own weales, by true and reasonable vnytynge & adioynyng them selues to the Kynges Maiesties louyng liege people.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 156. Nor regardyng … their awne weales and states, neyther the weales of their householdes, as their wives, children, or friendes.
† d. applied to a person, as a source of felicity, or an object of delight. Obs.
a. 1225. St. Marher., 8. Þu art iweddedes weole ant widewene warant.
a. 1240. Ureisun, in O. E. Hom., I. 183. Ihesu mi weole, mi wunne.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxx. (Theodera), 363. Þu art my welth & wele.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 288. O thou my wele, o thou my wo.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, xii. 290. He is our lord and our wele, and therfore I praye you, fayr bredern, that ye wyll obeye hym. Ibid. (1490), Eneydos, vi. 28. Sith that he hath … taken awaye hym whiche was alle my wele.
3. contextually. The welfare of a country or community; the general good. Often with defining word, as common, general, public, universal. See also COMMON WEAL 1, PUBLIC a. 2 a, WEAL-PUBLIC 3. Now arch.
† Phr. The weal of peace = OF. le bien de paix.
1444. Rolls of Parlt., V. 121/1. Where afore this tyme for the wele of Peas, Tranquillite and gode Governance, bitwene the Baillifs and Cominalte of the Toun of Shroesbury, divers composicions were made bitwene hem.
1483. Eng. Gilds, 335. To … the wele of the kyng our soueraygn lordez people.
1531. Elyot, Governor, Proheme, Your graces moste beneuolent inclination towarde the vniuersall weale of your subiectes.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 146. It was agreed by the king … for his more suretie, and for the weale of the lande.
1643. in Clarendon, Hist. Reb., VII. § 342. As enemies to the weal of both kingdoms.
1697. De la Pryme, Diary, 16 Sept. (Surtees), 150. Who vallues the weal politic above the ecclesiastic.
1726–30. Thomson, Winter, 35. For thy country’s weal.
1820. Byron, Mar. Fal., IV. i. This needful violence is for thy safety, No less than for the general weal.
1826. Pennsylv. Hist. Soc. Mem., I. 132. He appears in them as a watchful guardian of the domestic weal.
1838. Prescott, Ferd. & Is., II. xxiii. III. 430. This enterprise, undertaken for the weal of the church.
1870. Bryant, Iliad, IX. 122. Thou … shouldst follow willingly Another’s judgment when it best promotes The general weal.
b. Hence, a state, community; = COMMON WEAL 2. ? Obs.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XI. vii. 92. Avys heiron amangis ȝou for the best, And help to bring our feble weill to rest.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 304. For the universall Christen weale [L. pro republica Christiana].
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., III. i. 66. The speciall Watch-men of our English Weale.
1597. Bp. Hall, Sat., II. iii. 15. Wo to the weale where many lawiers bee.
1603. R. Johnson, Kingd. & Commw., 102. We ought not to meruaile, if this weale haue florished now these 250. yeares in great reputation of armes and valor.
1605. Shaks., Macb., V. ii. 27. Meet we the Med’cine of the sickly Weale.
1608. Heywood, Rape of Lucrece, B 4 b. Tarquins abilitie will in the weale, Beget a weake vnable impotence.
1727. Gay, Fables, I. xvii. 27 (Shepherd’s Dog & Wolf). If mindful of the bleating weal, Thy bosom burn with real zeal.
1763. Churchill, Epist. Hogarth, 42. To enlarge the mind, Purge the sick weal, and humanize mankind.
† 4. a. Goodness, virtuous behavior. Obs.
c. 1500. Three Kings’ Sons, 33. She wist wele that without grete nurture … he might not knowe the weelis and honoures that he coude. Ibid., 36. In his company, wheryn men may lerne bothe wele and honour.
c. 1500. Melusine, 11. Yf that ye think theron but wele & honour.
† b. Good or honorable report. Obs.
c. 1500. Three Kings’ Sons, 133. For the grete weeles that euery man rehersed of you.
