Obs. Forms: 3–5 tutel, 5 totel, -il, -yl, -ul. [ME. tutel (from early 13th c.), totel (c. 1400), app. from the variant stems tūt- (see prec.) and tōt- (see TOOT v.1), the former of which occurs in the same sense in older Flemish tuyten (in de oore, Kilian), Du. dial. tuiten, WFris. tûtsje to whisper.] intr. and trans. To whisper. Hence † Tutelinde ppl. a., † Tuteling, toteling vbl. sb., whispering. (See also TUTELER.)
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 106. Þu, uor þe luue of him … dute [= close] þinne tutelinde muð mit þine lippen. Ibid., 212 [see TUTEL sb.]. Ibid., 422. Þe ueond beot hire his werc þet ine Godes werke ne wurcheð: and he tuteleð anonrihtes touward hire.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 498/1. Totelon talys (… S. totylyn tale in onys ere), susurro. Totelynge, susurrium.
