AngloSaxon
Infopedia
Anglo-Saxon Glossary
|
aetheling |
a king-worthy man of the extended royal family |
aewda |
witness, usually by compurgation |
after-geld
|
after-payment |
aldor |
elder, senior, lord (often in the form
ealdor) |
ambihtsmith |
court smith, court carpenter, court handyman |
angylde |
compensation payment fixed by law |
ath
|
oath
|
bell-house |
belfry |
birele
|
cupbearer, steward |
blot
|
sacrifice or offering to idols
|
boc-land |
land held by charter |
bold-gaetal
|
lord's estate.
|
borh |
pledge, security, debt |
borhbryce |
breach of surety |
bot |
remedy, relief, compensation |
brygc, bryc, bric
|
bridge
|
bryce
|
breach, violation
|
burh |
dwelling |
burh-bryce |
breach of a dwelling ("breaking and
entering") |
burhgate-seat |
town or fortification gate |
canne |
cup |
ceapgeld |
market price, purchase price |
cear-wund |
badly (perhaps "mortally") wounded |
ceorl |
freeman (of the lowest class), churl |
ceorlish |
ceorl-like (note that "churlish" in modern
English has a much more pejorative tone than ceorlisc) |
churchealdor |
Church-elder |
church-frith |
sanctuary, a special protection under ecclesiastical
auspices |
church-grith |
sanctuary |
church-hlaford |
lord of a church |
churchscots |
church tax or payment |
churchsocns |
ecclesiastical jurisdiction, sanctuary |
cyne
|
kin
|
cynebot, cynegeld |
royal compensation |
cynedom |
royal law, kingdom |
cyreath |
oath of compurgation undertaken by accused and
compurgators |
drihtinbeah |
payment to a lord in compensation for killing his freeman |
drinclean
|
payment due from tenant to lord for ale
|
ealdorman, ealdor |
noble ruler of a county, chief, governor of a province |
edor
|
homestead, farmhouse.
|
edorbryce |
house-breaking |
eorl |
borrow-word from Old Norse jarl, often used in place of
ealdorman in documents from Cnut's reign forward. |
eorl-right |
earl's right, right of an ealdorman |
esne |
slave, servant, retainer |
esne-workmen |
hirelings, mercenaries, day-laborers |
faehth
|
feud
|
fahman |
foeman, usually the object of a blood-feud |
fare
|
go
|
feahfang |
bribery (especially the act of taking a bribe) |
feorm, firma |
provisions, foodstuffs, a grant of land in exchange for
partial usufruct, rent in kind paid by tenants |
fioh, feoh |
cattle, chattel, money, riches, fee, payment |
flet |
dwelling, hall |
flyma |
fugitive, outlaw, exile |
flymanfyrmth
|
harboring a fugitive
|
flyma's-wer |
legal value (wergeld) of an outlaw |
folc-land |
common land, held by the folk or nation |
folkmote |
folkmoot, meeting of a district (usually a hundred) for
legal actions and to hear royal writs |
folkright |
common law, folk law |
fore-ath
|
preliminary oath
|
forlongen |
ancient, long ago |
fosterlean
|
remuneration for rearing a child
|
frith-gewritu |
peace agreement |
frum-gyld |
first installment of a payment |
fryth |
peace, restoration of rights, amnesty |
ful
|
unconsecrated ground
|
fyrd |
military expedition, royal levy |
gaengang |
return |
gafol |
tribute, tax, debt |
gemot |
meeting, court |
gesithcund |
retainer-like, fit to be a thegn |
hadbot
|
compensation for injury, to a person in holy orders
|
hand-grith |
security, surety given by the king's hand |
hand-haebbende |
a thief caught in the act, e.g., "red-handed" |
heals-fang |
a fine, a preferential share of a wergeld, pillory |
hearm |
damage, injury, tort |
hlaford
|
loaf-giver, lord
|
hloth |
troop, band, gang (e.g., of thieves or robbers) |
hloth-bot |
penalty for being a member of a band or gang |
hold |
faithful, loyal; holder of an allod |
hordere |
treasurer, steward, hoarder |
laet
|
half-free, a class between slaves and freemen
|
laeth |
landed property, a subdivision of the county |
lah-slit |
fine for breach of the law (used in
Danelaw) |
leod |
man, people; wergeld for manslaughter |
leodgeld |
wergeld for manslaughter |
leud-gelds |
variant of leodgeld |
liblac, lyblac
|
witchcraft
|
light-scot |
light tax (usually in support of lighting for a church or
monastery) |
lyswe |
corrupt, pustulent |
maegbot
|
compensation paid to family
|
maeg-burg |
family, kinship group |
maegship |
kinship |
maerra, maere peningas
|
money of some kind
|
mancus
|
thirty pennies
|
manung
|
district over which reeve has jurisdiction
|
manwyrth |
value or price of a man |
methel
|
council, meeting
|
morgengyftt, morgengifu |
morning-gift, gift from husband to wife on the morning after
marriage |
morth, morthdaed |
murder, mortal sin |
mund |
protection, brideprice |
mundbyrd
|
protection, patronage |
mynsterham |
monastery |
nithing |
coward, outlaw (often with
overtones of sexual deviance) |
oferhyrnes |
contempt; disobedience (particularly disobedience of royal laws) |
ora
|
sixteen pennies
|
orwige |
corwardly, unwarlike, free of liability for homicide,
outlawed |
reaflac
|
robbery
|
reeve, gerefa
|
official, especially sheriff
|
riht hamscyld |
legal means of protecting one's home |
rimath |
oath of compurgation |
Rom-feoh, Rome-feoh |
Peter's pence |
sac |
dispute, jurisdiction, right to empanel a court |
sceat, scaet
|
four sceats equal one penny
|
scip
|
ship
|
six-hynde |
pertaining to the class the wergeld of which was 600
shillings |
stapela |
stake, post |
stermelda |
complainant, informer |
thegn |
knight, nobleman, retainer, minister |
theoden |
chief, king, God |
theow-men |
slave, servants |
theow-work |
slave-work, servant-work |
thrymsas |
tremise (equal to three denarii), three pennies of Mercian
money |
tun |
farm, manor, dwelling, village |
twy-hynde |
having a wergeld of 200 shillings |
ut-ware |
foreign defense, defense against outsiders |
walreaf |
the taking of spoils from the slain |
wealh, wylisc
|
British, Welsh.
|
wed |
pledge, security, dowry |
wedbryce |
treachery |
wegreaf |
highway robbery |
wer |
man, money value of a man's life |
wer-borh |
pledge for the payment of wergeld |
wergeld |
money value of a man's life |
wic-reeve |
reeve of a wic (village, town), bailiff, tax-collector |
witan |
royal council |
wite |
fine, punishment, penalty, contribution to the king |
wither-tihtle |
counter-charge |
It should be noted that not all the definitions provided are uncontroversial, since a
number of the issues underlying some of these terms are still very much a
matter of scholarly debate.
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