fardel
A fourth part: a quarter of anythingA fourth part: a quarter of anything.
Meaning
3 sensesA fourth part: a quarter of anything.
(historical)An English unit of land area variously understood as the fourth part of an oxgang or of a yardland.
(obsolete)A bundle or burden.
a burden (figuratively in the form of a bundle)
Origin
A clipped form of Middle English ferthendel (literally “fourth part”), equivalent to fourtA 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”).
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.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source