Etymology

deedless

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Today it means: Of real property whose owners' claim is not evidence by formal record of ownership, such as a deed. Full definition →

Old Norse dáðlauss
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The story

  1. Old Norse · derived fromdáðlauss“without virtue, incapable, lacking in courage and drive, despicable, cowardly”
  2. English todaydeedless

From deed + -less; obsolete sense is from earlier dadless, probably from Old Norse dáðlauss (“without virtue, incapable, lacking in courage and drive, despicable, cowardly”). Cognate with Danish dådløs (“non-heroic”), Swedish dådlös (“listless, shiftless”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.