a. and sb. Obs. Forms: 4 fauvel, fawvelle, 5 favel(l)e, (favyll), 6 favell, 4–6 favel. [a. OF. fauvel, f. fauve fallow-colored, a. Teut. *falwo- : see FALLOW a.1
The OF. word had all the uses found in Eng., so that there is no ground for treating sense 3 of the sb. as a distinct word, though it is possible that it may have been associated by some ME. writers with OF. favele idle talk, cajolery:—L. fābella, dim. of fābula FABLE. The phrase ‘to curry Favel,’ OF. estriller, torcher Fauvel, comes from the Roman de Fauvel (1310), the hero of which is a counterpart of Reynard the Fox (see P. Paris, MSS. Bibl. du Roi, I. 306); it has been adopted in Ger. as den fahlen hengst streichen. It is not clear whether before the date of this poem a ‘fallow’ horse was proverbial as the symbol of dishonesty; the same notion is found in German, ‘to ride the fallow horse’ (den fahlen hengst reiten—recorded from 15th c.) having the sense ‘to play an underhand game, act deceitfully’.]
A. adj. Of a horse: = FALLOW a.1 (The exact color denoted by the adj. in early use is uncertain.)
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, i. 33. There came rydynge a messager vpon a horse fauell.
B. sb.
1. As the proper name of a fallow-colored horse.
c. 1325. Coer de L., 2320.
| Two stedes found the Kyng Richard, | |
| That one hight Favel, that other Lyarde. |
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 175. Siþen at Japhet was slayn fauuelle [printed fanuelle] his stede.
c. 1375. Morte Arthur, 2766. One ffawuelle [printed ffawnelle] of ffryselande to fferaunt he rydys.
2. The fallow horse proverbial as the type of fraud, cunning, or duplicity. Only in phrase To curry Favel: see CURRY v. 5 a.
3. Hence used as a mere personification of cunning or duplicity.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. II. 6. Boþe Fals and Fauuel · and al his hole Meyne!
1406. Hoccleve, La Male Regle, 223. O thow, fauele, of lesynges auctour.
14[?]. Kyng & Hermit, 157, in Hazl., E. P. P. (1864), I. 19.
| Were I oute of my hermyte wede, | |
| Off my favyll I wold not dred. |
1522. Skelton, Why Come Ye not to Court, 92. Favell is false forsworne.
1576. R. Edwards, Parad. D. Devices (1578), I iij. O favell false, thou traitor borne, what mischief more might thou devise!
