As a separate word only in pl. battels; also 4 ? batails, 8 battles, 9 battells. [Of uncertain origin: in 16th c. L. batilli, battilli; in the Laudian Statutes batellæ. The etymology of this, with its associated vb., and deriv. batteler, has been the subject of abundant conjecture. Much depends on the original sense at Oxford: if this was ‘food, provisions,’ it is natural to connect it with BATTLE v.3 to feed, receive nourishment; cf. esp. BATTLING vbl. sb.3, explained by Sherwood (1632), as ‘vivres, manger, morche.’ But conclusive evidence that battels had this sense is wanting, while already before 1600 it had that of ‘debita,’ sums due to the college for provisions, etc. The verb, however, appears to have been sometimes used for ‘to take or receive provisions,’ i.e., from the college buttery, which brings us close to the senses of BATTLE v.3 ‘to feed, take nourishment.’ Cf. also the Eton use, and Winchester battlings. On the other hand, sense 3 of the vb. (if the same word) suggests the idea of contributing to a common fund or stock: compare the terms ‘commons’ and ‘commoner.’ See BATTELER.
Taking ‘accounts’ or ‘score’ as the original sense, some have conjectured battel to be a dimin. of BAT sb.2 or of F. batte, with sense of ‘little staff or stick,’ whence perhaps ‘tally-stick.’ But nothing appears in med.L., OF., or Eng., to support this conjecture. Reference to Du. betaalen, G. bezahlen ‘to pay,’ or to the possibility of batilli arising out of a misreading of bacilli ‘little sticks,’ do not fall within the limits of scientific etymology.]
† 1. See quot. (Perhaps a distinct word.) Obs.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 76. To cry þis day … aȝennis þe multitude of lawis of þe kirk … aȝen batails, aȝen reseruacouns, aȝen furst frutis, & oþer spolingis of goodis of þe kirk.
2. In Univ. of Oxford: a. College accounts for board and provisions supplied from the kitchen and buttery. b. In looser use: The whole college accounts for board and lodgings, rates, tuition, and contribution to various funds, as ‘My last term’s battels came to £40.’ Also attrib., as battel-bills.
The word has apparently undergone progressive extensions of application, owing partly to changes in the internal economy of the colleges. Some Oxford men of a previous generation state that it was understood by them to apply to the buttery accounts alone, or even to the provisions ordered from the buttery, as distinct from the ‘commons’ supplied from the kitchen: but this latter use is disavowed by others. See the quotations, and cf. those under BATTEL v. and BATTELER, which bear that battels applied in 17–18th c. to provisions supplied to members of the college individually at their own order and cost, i.e., to battelers, who had no commons, but were charged their ‘battels’ only, and to commoners as extras ‘above the ordinary stint of their appointed commons’: but whether the battels were originally the provisions themselves, or the sums due on account of them, must at present be left undecided.
1557. Reg. Exeter Coll., 41. Ad solvendum debita seu batillos sociorum.
1636. Corpus Statut. Oxon., II. § 4. Diligenti examinatione habita tam libri Batellarum quam Obsonatoris cujuslibet Collegii et Aulæ.]
1706. Hearne, Remarks & Coll. (1885), I. 220. For sometime kept a name in ye Buttery Book; at wch time Dr. Charlett was sponsor for discharge of his Battles.
1792. Gentl. Mag., Aug., 716. The word battel, which … signifies to account, and battels the College accounts in general.
1842. Arnold, in Life & Corr. (1844), II. x. 305. Their authority might be exerted to compel payment to tradesmen with nearly the same regularity as they exact their own battells.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., in Macm. Mag., IV. 61. The dinners and wines are charged in their battel bills.
1882. Spectator, 18 March, 352/1. Its receipts from its own members in respect of battels, room rent, and tuition fees.
3. Elsewhere: (see quots.)
1798. H. Tooke, Purley, 390. Battel, a term used at Eton for the small portion of food which, in addition to the College allowance, the Collegers receive from their Dames.
1851. Cumbrld. Gloss., Battles, commons or board.
[a. 1883. Trollope, Autobiogr. (1883), I. 13. Every boy had a shilling a week pocket-money, which we called battels [This is an error of the author: the Winchester term is battlings], and which was advanced to us out of the pocket of the second master.]
