Etymology A clipped form of Middle English ferthendel (literally “fourth part”), equivalent to fourth + deal. Cognate with Dutch vierendeel (“a fourth part, quarter”), German Viertel (“a quarter, fourth”), Danish fjerdedel (“a quarter”), Swedish fjärdedel (“a fourth, quarter”).
1
A fourth part: a quarter of anything.
I... bought a Farthel of Bread and a Mutckin of Ale.c. 1666, W. Sutherland in R. Wodrow's The history of the sufferings of the Church of Scotland, from the Restauration to the Revolution, volume I, Appendix: page 101
2
Historical An English unit of land area variously understood as the fourth part of an oxgang or of a yardland.
You must note, that two Fardells of Land make a Nooke of Land, and two Nookes make halfe a Yard of Land.a. 1634, W. Noye, The Complete Lawyer, section 57:
Fardel of Land, the fourth part of a Yard-land.1706, Phillips's New World of Words:
farthingdeal, a much smaller division of land making up 1⁄4 acre
Hypernyms
third (1+1⁄3 quarters & for smaller subdivisions), oxgang (2 fardels & for larger divisions), nook (2 fardels & for larger divisions)
Hyponyms
fifth (4⁄5 of a quarter & for smaller subdivisions), acre
fardel
verb
Etymology From Middle English fardel, from Old French fardel (“pack, bundle”), from Spanish fardel, diminutive of fardo (“pack, bundle”), from Arabic فَرْد (fard, “one of a pair”), as applied to saddlebags.
Here are foure vntruths fardelled vp together1607, Andrew Willet, Loidoromastix:
fardel
noun
Etymology From Middle English fardel, from Old French fardel (“pack, bundle”), from Spanish fardel, diminutive of fardo (“pack, bundle”), from Arabic فَرْد (fard, “one of a pair”), as applied to saddlebags.
Hees forc't to trot with fardle at his backe, / From houſe to houſe, demaunding if they lacke / A poore yong man that's willing to take paine, / And mickle labour, though for little gaine.1597–1598, T[homas] M[iddleton], “Satyre 2. Prodigall Zodon.”, in Micro-cynicon: Sixe Snarling Satyres. […], imprinted at London: By Thomas Creede, for Thomas Bushell, […], published 1599, →OCLC; republished as [Edward Vernon Utterson], editor, Micro-cynicon: Sixe Snarling Satyres, [Ryde, Isle of Wight?]: Reprinted at the Beldornie Press, by G. E. Palmer, for Edwd. V. Utterson, 1842, →OCLC:
[W]ho would fardels beare / To grunt and ſweat vnder a wearie life, / But that the dread of ſomething after death, / The vndiſcouer'd country, from whoſe borne / No trauiler returnes, puzzels the will, / And makes vs rather beare thoſe ills we haue, / Then flie to others that we know not of.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
3 more examples
It doth also appear by the abbreviate of the accounts sent home out of the Indies, that there remained in the hands of the agent, master Starkey, 482 fardels of calicos, viz.: 8 canisters of pintados, and 117 fardels of checkered stuffs, 51 fardels of long malow girdles, […].1855 [1606], Henry Middleton, Bolton Corney (editor), The Voyage of Sir Henry Middleton to Bantam and the Maluco Islands, page 13 (of Appendix)
This to the shunless fardel of the world / Nerves my uncurbèd back; […]1897, Francis Thompson, “[Miscellaneous Odes.] An Anthem of Earth.”, in New Poems, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Co., →OCLC, anthem, page 139:
“God in his mercy be thanked” said Katherine. “My dear Lord is then truly and honestly rid of his fardel.”1954, Anya Seyton, Katherine: