Obs. See also FORMELL. [app. a use of OE. fótmǽl, foot measure (see FOOT sb. and MEAL); the L. pes seems to have been used in the same sense. The reason for the name is obscure.] A weight used for lead, app. about 70 lbs., the thirtieth part of a FOTHER or load.
a. 1300[?]. Assisa de Ponderibus, in Stat. of the Realm, I. 205. Item charrus plumbi constat ex xxx fotmals; Et quodlibet fotmal constat ex vj petris, ij libris minus; Et quelibet petra constat ex xij. libris. [The transl. printed with this passage (taken from ed. 1751) has formel instead of fotmal; for the Lat. text which this version seems to represent, see FORMELL.]
1375–6. Abingdon Acc. (1892), 30. Et ad iactandum xvj vothres vj votmels [printed votinels] plumbi in pondere, C s.
13[?]. Meas. of Weight, in Rel. Ant., I. 70. Sex waxpunde makiet .j. ledpound .xij. ledpunde .j. fotmel … xxiij fotmel .j. fothir of Bristouwe.
1866. Rogers, Agric. & Prices, I. x. 168. This quantity [charrus] contained thirty fontinelli [misread for fotmelli], fotmael, pedes, or pigs.
