Note 239 — SECTION VII. ZOOLOGICAL NOTES (ANIMALS WILD AND TAME)—NOTES ON FLORA—AGRICULTURE AND CATTLE-BREEDING—FISHERIES AND FISHING—INDUSTRY AND EMIGRATION.
Reading edition
The word Vaðmál (pron. Vathmowl) is derived from Váð, Vóð, or Voð, stuff, cloth, weeds (e.g., widows’ “weeds”); and Mál, a measure—“stuff-measure,” because it was the standard of all value and payment before a coinage came into use (Cleasby). The form “Wadmal” will here be preserved, although England prefers “Wadmill,” e.g., in “Wadmill-till” for waggons.