Arval

noun

noun ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A funeral feast or wake at which bread and ale was served, traditional in Scotland, the North of England, and among the Norse. Northern-England, Scotland, archaic

    "It was customary in the north to have an arval or funeral dinner after an interment."

  2. 2
    The ale served at such a wake, the drinking of which was a ritually significant act in Norse culture. historical, rare

    "[…] Then quoth Hamtheow, etc.: 'We shall never come back to our mother [when we have slain the King of Goths]. Thou shalt drink the arval for us all together, for Swanhild and thy sons.'"

  3. 3
    The money given to hunters, at the death of a fox, in order to buy ale.

Example

More examples

"It was customary in the north to have an arval or funeral dinner after an interment."

Etymology

From Middle English arvell, from Old Norse erfiǫl (“a funeral feast”), from arfr (“inheritance”) + öl (“ale”). Cognate with Danish arveøl (“a wake, funeral feast”). More at erf, ale.

Related phrases

arval-breadarval-cakearval-dinnerarval-supper

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.