What does "wortle" mean?

[peggypatch]

Has anyone come across the word wortle before? I found it in an overseer's account book in the 1790s:
paid Mr Smith wortle girl 1s per week
paid Mr Smith wortle with girl Warns 1s per week

Thanks for any help
Peggy

[Vance Mead]

In the OED there is: An instrument used in drawing wire.

But that doesn't seem to fit.

[peggypatch]

Yes, I should have mentioned that. I agree that doesn't make sense in this instance.

[ShaunJ]

What was the overseer overseeing? Can you post a photo or a link to the wortle bit?

[peggypatch]

I don't have a copy of it. It was just among the usual disbursements of money in an overseers' account. Mr Smith was collecting poor relief for caring for a few poor children/orphans, it is just the addition of the word wortle beyond the usual "paid John Smith for the boy Ellis" that you would usually see among the payments. This is in Norfolk.

[Drosybont]

"Whortleberry" is a a word used for various kinds of small wild berries, eg bilberries.  So maybe a wortle girl was picking berries.

Drosybont

[arthurk]

I couldn't see anything that seems likely in Joseph Wright's Dialect Dictionary.

It's a pity you don't have the original - I'm just wondering if the word appears against anyone else. If it doesn't, could it be a surname, eg "Paid John Smith for the Wortle girl" etc? And where you have "paid Mr Smith wortle with girl Warns 1s per week" could that be referring to two separate girls?

[jonwarrn]

If it's from overseers accounts somewhere in Norfolk, then it might be online on FamilySearch, and maybe elsewhere as well.
But without knowing where...

[Gadget]

The only word that I can find that others haven't mentioned is originally from the Dutch- wortel meaning carrot or, possibly, other  root veg