Bosworth Toller's

Anglo-Saxon

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wæl-cyrge

  • noun [ feminine ]
Dictionary links
Grammar
wæl-cyrge, -cyrige, -cyrie, an; f.
A chooser of the slain. According to the mythology, as seen in its Northern form, the Val-kyrjur were the goddesses who chose the slain that were to be conducted by them to Odin's hall — Val-halla : 'Þær ríða jafnan at kjósa val.' Something of the old idea is still shewn in the following glosses, in which the word renders a Fury, a Gorgon, or the goddess of war
Show examples

  • Uualcyrge

    Tisifone,

    • Wrt. Voc. ii. 122, 34:

    Eurynis,

    • 107, 43.

  • Walcrigge

    Herinis,

    • 110, 34.

  • Wælcyrge,

    Bellona,

    • 43, 2: 94, 15: 12, 12.

  • Wælcyrige

    Allecto,

    • 5, 72.

  • Wælcyrie

    Tisiphona,

      i. 60, 21.

  • Ða deór habbaþ wælkyrian eágan

    hae bestie oculos habent Gorgoneos,

    • Nar. 34, 6.
But elsewhere it is used apparently with the sense of witch or sorceress
Show examples

  • Wyccan and wælcyrian and unlybwyrhtan,

    • Wulfst. 298, 18.

  • Wiccan and wælcerian,

    • 165, 34.

  • Wiccean and wælcyrian,

    • Chart. Erl. 231, 10.
Etymology
[ Clerkes out of Caldye ... wycheȝ & walkyries ... deuinores of demorlaykes ... sorsers & exorsismus,
  • Allit. Pms. 85, 1577.
Icel. val-kyrja
.]
Linked entries
v.  -cyrge wæl-ceásiga.
Entry information
Citation

Bosworth, Joseph. “wæl-cyrge.” 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/34306.

Checked: 2
Full form

Word-wheel

  • wæl-cyrge, n.

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