frundel

1) A dry measure, used typically of grain, peas, etc.

1572 one frundill of peise, South Cave

1642 Poore folks putte usually … two peckes of pease to a frundell of Massledine, and say that these make hearty breade, Elmswell. The spellings varied, with changes to the first vowel: 1570 iij frondles of rye, South Cave

1579 5 bushels of wheat, a quarter and a frandall, Halsham. The earliest reference is another East Riding example: 1412 j fryndill frumenti, Winestead. Views differ as to what proportion of a bushel it might have been but it is considered to be a corruption of ‘farthingdeal’, via spellings such as ‘farundell’ noted in the OED, so maybe it was simply ‘a fourth part’.

spellings frondle fryndill frandall
dates 1412 1570 1572 1579 1642

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