Fardel
/ˈfɑːr.dəl/noun
A bundle or package, especially one carried as a burden.
Did you know?Shakespeare used “fardel” in *Hamlet* while asking whether life’s troubles are worth enduring: “the thousand natural shocks… that flesh is heir to.”
Etymological Timeline
Possibly Medieval Arabic
Arabic
furḍah / fardah
“A bundle or package; this proposed source is uncertain.”
12th–13th Century
Old French
fardel
“A small bundle or pack, probably formed from *farde*, “burden” or “pack.””
Late 13th Century
Middle English
fardel
“A bundle, burden, or pack carried by someone.”
16th Century
English
fardel
“A burden, both literally and figuratively.”
1601
English
fardel
“In Shakespeare’s *Hamlet*, a metaphor for the burdens and sufferings of human life.”
Modern English
English
fardel
“An archaic or literary word for a bundle or heavy burden.”