Learned borrowing from Middle English ethel, from Old English ǣþel, ēþel.
Meanings
(obsolete) Noble.
The violation of an ethel born or noble woman was paid for by a higher murde than that of an un-ethel or common person. The murder of all persons was in like manner paid for by a were or were-geld, nicely adjusted to their relative rank. 1861, Henry Brougham, The British Constitution: Its History, Structure, and Working, page 140:
[…] that he was of a doughty and ethel stirp. His ayle and eam had both been bellipotent; […] 1856, Samuel Klinefelter Hoshour, Letters to Squire Pedant, in the East, page 33:
"I have come to seek your counsel in your most ethel of ethical capacities. My problem is wholly mechanical." 1921, The Judge, page 5:
ru одал (name of the Latin letter (Œ, œ)) · bg одал (name of the Futharc rune) · ru одал (name of the Futharc rune) · de oe-Ligatur (name of the Latin letter (Œ, œ)) · fr e dans l'o (name of the Latin letter (Œ, œ)) · bg одал (name of the Latin letter (Œ, œ))