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Anglo-Saxon

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Wætlinga-strǽt

  • noun [ feminine ]
Dictionary links
Grammar
Wætlinga-strǽt, e; f.
Watling Street, the Roman road running from Dover, through Canterbury,
    Rochester, London, St. Alban's,
Dunstable, Fenny Stratford, Towcester, Weedon, Wroxeter to Chester. [From Douere in to Chestre tilleþ Watlingestrete, R. Glouc. 8, 1. According to Trevisa it went 'besides Wrokecestre, and then forth to Stratton, and so forth by the myddell of Wales unto Cardykan, and endeth atte Irisshe see.' Polychron. bk. i. c. 45. Florence of Worcester, in his Chronicle under the year 1013, gives a mythical explanation of the word, that it was the road which the sons of King Weatla made across England]
Show examples

  • Ðis sint ða landgemǽra ðara landa tó Baddanbyrig (

    Badby) and tó Doddanforda (Dodford) and tó Eferdúne (Everdon) (all three places are in Northamptonshire, a little to the west of Watling Street) . . . Súð on gerihte andlang Wætlinga strǽt on ðone weg tó Weóduninga gemǽre (Weedon ),

      Cod. Dip. Kmbl. ii. 250, 7: iii. 421, 29.

  • Ðis sint ða landgemǽro intó Stówe (

    Stowe in Bucks

    ). Ǽrest of ðam hálgan wylles forda súð andlang Wætlinga strǽte,
      443, 4.

  • Hii sunt termini hujus terrae [

    land at Teobbanwyrðe (Tebworth, Beds )

    .] Ðǽr se díc sceót in Wæclinga strǽte ; andlanges Wæxlinga strǽte . . . æfter díce in Wæxlingga stráte, v. 187, 21-31.
  • Ðis syndon ða landgemǽra tó Hámstede. Of Sandgatan . . . west tó Wætlinga strǽte, vi. 106, 1.

  • On Weaclinga strǽt (

    the place is the same as in the first passage given

    ),
      213, 22.

  • Ðonne on gerihte tó Bedanforda, ðonne up on Úsan óð Wætlinga strǽt,

      L. A. G. 1; Th. i. 152, 10.

  • Hé com ofer Wæclinga strǽte, Chr. 1013; Erl. 148, 6. ^f In one charter the word occurs in boundaries of land 'æt Eástún,' which Kemble places in Hampshire, the gift of the land being made at Glastonbury. If this identification is correct the word seems to have been used of more than one road :-- Of ðære strǽte in Ebban mór.

    . . in ðone díc on Uppinghǽma gemǽra (Upham ? Hants )

    ; andlang díces on Wætlinga strǽte,
      Cod. Dip. Kmbl. iii. 124, 18.
Etymology
[In later English the word was applied to the Milky Way The Galaxye, which men clepeth the Milky Wey . . . and somme callen hit Watlinge Strete,
    Chauc. H. of Fame, ii. 431.
Wattelynge strete lactea, galaxias vel galaxia,
    Cath. Angl. 410, and see note.
]
Linked entries
v.  Erming-strǽt.
Entry information
Citation

Bosworth, Joseph. “Wætlinga-strǽt.” In An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online, edited by Thomas Northcote Toller, Christ Sean, and Ondřej Tichy. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, 2014. https://bosworthtoller.com/34564.

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Word-wheel

  • Wætlinga-strǽt, n.

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