odal

See also: óðal

English

Etymology 1

From Icelandic óðal. Cognate with Norwegian odel, odal (“allodium, patrimony”), Old English ēþel (“homeland”). Compare athel, Odelsthing.

Alternative forms

• udal

Noun

odal (plural odals)

1. (law, historical) Among the early and medieval Teutonic peoples, especially Scandinavians, the heritable land held by the various odalmen constituting a family or kindred of freeborn tribesmen.
2. The ownership of such land.

Usage notes

The odal was subject only to certain rights of the family or kindred in restricting the freedom of transfer or sale and giving certain rights of redemption in case of change of ownership by inheritance, etc., and perhaps to other rights of the kindred or the tribe. Survivals of the early odal estates and tenure exist in Orkney and Shetland, where it is usually called by the variant form udal.

Adjective

odal (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to odal land.

See also

• ᛟ (a rune associated with odal)
• odal oil

Etymology 2

From ode +‎ -al.

Adjective

odal (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to an ode or odes.
   • 2016, Walt Hunter, “Planetary Dejection: An Ode to the Commons”, in Symploke‎^[1], volume 24, numbers 1–2, page 227:

     But what’s clear from the extraordinary proliferation of contemporary lyric odes, and the reactions to the ecstatic claims of these odes, is that the question of poetry, sociality, and globality has become unavoidable: contemporary poetry, which has long resisted incorporation into the discourse of globalization, must be understood on a global, and odal, scale.

Anagrams

• -adol, -adol-, Aldo, alod, load

Estonian

Noun

odal

1. adessive singular of oda

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• odal n (1567)

Etymology

From Old Norse óðal, from Proto-Germanic *ōþalą. Cognate with Faroese and Icelandic óðal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²uː(d)al/
• (Hardanger, Voss) IPA^(key): [²ou̞ːdɐ̞l]
• (Telemark) IPA^(key): [²oːɐ̞l], [²u̞ːɐ̞l]

Noun

odal m (definite singular odalen, indefinite plural odalar, definite plural odalane)

1. (nonstandard or dialectal) alternative form of odel (“land with odalsrett; property”)
   • 1869, Olav Pauson, editor, Lesebok i Landsmaalet, Harald Haarfagre, page 65:

     I kvart Fylke, som Harald lagde under seg, der sette han den Logi, at alt Landet og alle Gardarne skulde Kongen eiga. Med di tok han Odalen ifraa Bønderne, so dei aatte inkje lenger Gardarne sine, Kongen vardt den einaste Jord-Eigaren i Landet, og Bønderne luto reida Landskyld aat honom fyre Gardarne sine.

     In every county that Harald took power of, he applied the law that all the land and all the farms should belong to the king. With that, he took the property from the farmers, so that they no longer owned their farms; the king became the only land-owner in the country, and the farmers had to pay land-rent to him for their farms.

Derived terms

• odalsarv
• odalsbonde
• odalsboren
• odalsbrev
• odalsbrigde
• odalsbu
• odalseiga, odalseige
• odalsfelage
• odalsfri
• odalsgard
• odalsgjenta, odalsgjente
• odalsgods
• odalsgrunn
• odalsgut
• odalshævd, odalshevd
• odalsjord
• odalskar
• odalskvist
• odalsløysing
• odalsmann
• odalsrett
• odalsson
• odalsting
• odalsætt

 

References

• “odel” in Ivar Aasen (1873) Norsk Ordbog med dansk Forklaring