Obs. exc. Hist. Also 1 éðel, œðel, 1–3 eðel, æðel, 3 aðel. [Common Teut.: OE. œðel, éðel = OS. óðil, OFris. éthel, óthol, OHG. uodil, ON. óðal, f. stem *ôþ-, ablaut-derivative of *aþ-: see ATHEL.] Ancestral land or estate, patrimony; native land.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth. Metr., xxiv. 99. Þis is eallunga min aʓen cyð eard and eþel.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke iv. 24. Nan witeʓa nis andfenge on his eþele [Lindisf. on oeðel his, Rushw. on oedle his].
c. 1160. Hatton Gosp., ibid. On his æðele.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 113. We ne maȝen habben þene heouenlichen eþel butan we beon clene from alle sake.
c. 1205. Lay., 16289. Min æðel to biwinnen. Ibid., 20201. Þat aðel wes his aȝene.
1875. Stubbs, Const. Hist., I. v. 75. An ‘ethel,’ an inherited or otherwise acquired portion of original allotment.
