The story
- Old Norse · derived fromváðmál“woolen stuff”
- Middle English · inherited fromwadmal
- English todaywadmal
From Middle English wadmal, wadmol, from Old Norse váðmál (“woolen stuff”), from váð (“cloth”) + mál (“measure”). Cognate to Danish vadmel, Swedish vadmal, Norwegian Nynorsk vadmål and Icelandic vaðmál. Compare wad (“a small mass”) and woodmeil.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.