Word Study
udal
CIDE DICTIONARY
udal, n. & a. [Icel. allodium, an hereditary estate; akin to Sw. odal allodial, Dan. odel.].
Vars. of Odal, etc.; property held by udal, or allodial, right -- Obs. exc. in Shetland and the Orkney Islands, where udal designates a freehold, land held in fee simple without any charter and free of any feudal character. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
udal, a.
Allodial; -- a term used in Finland, Shetland, and Orkney. See Allodial. Burrill. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
udal, n. (also odal) the kind of freehold right based on uninterrupted possession prevailing in N. Europe before the feudal system and still in use in Orkney and Shetland.
Etymology
ON {oacute}thal f. Gmc
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