An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Adel
Adel, masculine, ‘nobility,’ from Middle High German adel, masculine, neuter, ‘lineage, noble lineage, noble rank, perfection,’ Old High German adal, neuter (and edili, neuter), ‘lineage, especially noble lineage’; corresponding to Old Saxon aðali, neuter, ‘body of nobles, notables, nobility,’ Dutch adel, Anglo-Saxon œðelu, neuter plural, ‘noble birth,’ Old Icelandic aƀal, ‘disposition, talent, lineage.’ In Gothic the stem aþ (by gradation ôþ) is wanting; to it belong Old High German uodil, neuter, ‘patrimony, home’ (Modern High German Ulrich, from Old High German Uodalrîch or Uhland, from Uodal-lant), Old Saxon ôðil, Anglo-Saxon éðel, masculine, ‘patrimony, home.’ Hence the fundamental idea of the Teutonic root aþ, by gradation ôþ (from Aryan ăt), seems to be ‘by transmission, inheritance.’ The aristocratic tinge evinced by the West Teutonic cognates is not remarkable when we consider the early period; only the patrician had a ‘family’; genealogies of nobles (in old documents) reach back to the Old Teutonic period; the names beginning with Adel are primitive, Alfons, influenced by Romance from Old High German Adalfuns, Adalheid, Adalberaht, Adolf, from Atha-ulf; also the derivative Old High German Adalung. See too Adler, edel.