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Glite Dictionary
🧶 Coarse wool cloth 💰 Cloth as money
wadmal

wadmal

9.9
A coarse woolen cloth used as a form of payment in the Middle Ages in Scandinavia and Iceland
  • noun
  • Archaic
translation icon : wadmal
  • In medieval Iceland, farmers paid their taxes with wadmal instead of coins.

Examples

  • A length of wadmal was often used to settle debts in Scandinavian markets.

  • The value of wadmal depended on its quality and the skill of the weaver.

  • The wadmal was woven by skilled artisans.

  • In ancient times, wadmal was a common currency.

  • In medieval Iceland, farmers paid their taxes with wadmal instead of coins.

  • A length of wadmal was often used to settle debts in Scandinavian markets.

  • In ancient times, wadmal was a common currency among traders.

Synonyms

frise
vswadmal
  • Archaic
1 9.9

Thick rough wool cloth with a raised surface used for warm clothing or blankets

is accepted as cloth payment rather than used for clothing or furnishings
stroud
vswadmal
  • Archaic
9.9

A coarse wool cloth used in trade for furs with Native American people

serves as cloth accepted as payment rather than ordinary trade goods
rigsdaler
vswadmal
  • Archaic
9.9

Old money used in Denmark and Norway before the 1800s

is cloth accepted as value and payment instead of official money

Surface Forms

wadmal singular
wadmals plural

Etymology

Wadmal also comes from Old Norse vaðmál and was often used in the Middle Ages as a way to pay others with lengths of cloth. The ending -mál may mean 'measure', so the cloth was treated like a measured value or money, which is why wadmal also means a unit of payment.