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It's a variant of Adela, a short form of dithematic names starting with Adel- the Latin influenced form of old Germanic Aþel- (with typical "th-stopping" common throughout the former Holy Roman Empire since Latin has no /þ/ phoneme — the other solution was to drop it altogether resulting in names beginning with Æl- or Al- as variants of Aþel- or Æþel-). This element is usually listed as meaning "noble", but to be precise the sense is noble as in "high-born", not necessarily "noble character", and is cognate with other words and name elements referring to inherited land and fortune (in the senses of both "luck" and "wealth").