Obs. Forms: 1 æðel-u pl., 3 æðele, aðele pl., ? athel sing. [OE. aðel-u, -o, neuter pl. of *æðel = OS. ađali n., OHG. adal n., MHG., mod.G., Du. adel ‘good family, noble descent, nobility,’ ON. aðal ‘family, race, kind,’ f. root *aþ Aryan āt, not in Gothic. The orig. signification seems to have been ‘race, ancestry’ as in ON. (cf. the cognate ETHEL, OE. éðel, ‘ancestral land, patrimony, patria’), which was specialized in W.Ger. as ‘distinguished race, good family, nobility’: cf. specific use of G. geschlecht, and of family in ‘county families.’]
Ancestry, origin; spec. noble ancestry, nobility; hence, honor, dignity, might, power.
Beowulf, 790. He eower æðelu can.
c. 885. K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxx. ii. His æðelo bioþ má on þam móde, ðonne on þam flæsce.
c. 1205. Lay., 2938. Þa ældede þe king & wakede an aðelan [1250 failede his mihte]. Ibid., 10629. He leoseden heore aðele. Ibid., 9263. Þe eorl Aruiragus mid æðele help his broðer. Ibid., 12915. His aðelen weore store.
c. 1300. in Wright, Lyric P., viii. 33. In uch an hyrd thyn athel ys hyht.
