Meanings
- Germaniccountableno pluraluncountablelifestyleFate, destiny.
There laws they laid, there life chose, To men's sons, and spoke orlay […]
2004, Nathaniel Harris, Witcha: A Book of Cunning4 more examples
I am fully aware of how Oaths affect my Orlay and my Wyrd. I am Oathed to no one, save the Holy Ones and my Wife.
2006, An Heathen Reader: Some Thoughts on the State of Things I Think, anheathenreader.blogspot.com/.../some-thoughts-on-state-of-things-i.htmlYou could think of your own orlay as the source or seed of your “personal wyrd.” A newborn infant initially inherits its orlay from its parents and ancestors. This initial orlay is its heritage, compiled from the words and deeds of those ancestors.
2009, Alaric Albertsson, Travels Through Middle EarthThese deeds done within the innangard of the tribe by its tribesmen are its law, its orlay.
2011, Swain Wodening, The Sacred and the HolyRemember how I wrote at the beginning of this chapter that the Norns 'shape' orlay. Orlay itself gives a person 'shape' within the dimensions of Time and Wyrd.
2021, Winifred Rose, Heathen Soul Lore FoundationsSynonyms: weird, wyrd, chance, destin, destiny, doom, fatality, fate
Synonyms & antonyms
nounFate, destiny.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*uzlagą“destiny; fate”
- Proto-West Germanic*oʀlag
- Old Englishorlæġ“fate”
- Englishorlay
Learned borrowing from Old English orlæġ (“fate”), from Proto-West Germanic *oʀlag, *uʀlag, from Proto-Germanic *uzlagą (“destiny; fate”, literally “that which is laid out; out-lay; plan; design”). For more, see Old English or-, English lay.
More words from Old English, Proto-West Germanic, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
orlay. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/orlay
“orlay.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/orlay. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “orlay,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/orlay.
Source: orlay on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.