▪ I. † ˈarval, -el, -ill Obs. exc. dial.
Also 5–6 arvell, 7 arvall.
[App. adopted from Norse: cf. Da. arveöl, ON. erfi-öl (Vigfusson), OSw. arföl (Ihre), f. arf, arv, ON. arfr (OE. erfe) inheritance + öl ale, a banquet: see ale 3. Cf. also ON. erfi a wake, a funeral feast = erfi-öl.]
A funeral feast.
| 1459 MS. Reg. Test. Ebor. IV. 249 b, [John Alanson leaues an ox] ‘ad distrib. inter propinquos et amicos meos, scilicet ad meum arvell.’ 1588 Wills & Inv. Durh. (1860) 181/2 That secke..which was drouncke at the arvell. 1623 MS. Richmond Wills Carthorpe, Her arvall, or funerall dinner. 1702 Thoresby Diary I. 362 The following arvill, or treat, of cold posset, stewed prunes, cake, and cheese, prepared for the company. 1860 Mrs. Gaskell C. Brontë 17 The old custom of ‘arvills,’ or funeral feasts. 1880 Yorksh. Archæol. Jrnl. XXII. 290 The arval was held at the little village inn. |
2. attrib., as in arval-bread, arval-dinner, etc.
| 1567 MS. Durham Registry, For his arvell supper. 1691 Ray N. Countr. Words 139 Arvel-Bread, Silicernium. 1778–80 W. Hutchinson Northbld. II. 20 in Brand's Pop. Antiq. (Hazl.) II. 193 On the decease of any person possessed of valuable effects, the friends and neighbours of the Family are invited to dinner on the Day of Interment, which is called the Arthel or Arvel-dinner. 1807 Douce Illust. Shaks. II. 203 (Jam.) In the North this feast is called an arval or arvil-supper; and the loaves that are sometimes distributed among the poor, arval-bread. 1875 Whitby Gloss., Averill-breead, funeral loaves, spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, and raisins. |
3. ? Arval-bread.
| 1568 Wills & Inv. N.C. (1835) 294 A boxe of arvell xviijd.—Hony ijs. |
▪ II. arval, a.
(ˈɑːvəl)
[ad. L. arvālis, f. arv-um arable land: see -al1.]
Of or belonging to ploughed land; esp. in Arval Brethren (= L. Frātres Arvāles), a college of twelve priests in Ancient Rome, who offered sacrifice to the field-Lares to secure the fertility of the soil.
| 1656 in Blount Glossogr. 1854 Keightley Mythol. Greece & It. (ed. 3) 461 The hymn of the Arval Brethren. |