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weald

  • noun [ masculine ]
Dictionary links
Grammar
weald, es; m.
Wright's OE grammar
§303; §397;
High land covered with wood (v.weald-genga), wood, forest. [The word is left in the phrase the weald of Kent and Sussex, the earlier woodland character of which district is shewn by its local names (v. Taylor's Names and Places, pp. 244-5) ; and in wold, e. g. the wolds of Lincolnshire, Cotswold, though from the changed condition of the country this word no longer implies the presence of wood: in Bailey's Dictionary wold is defined 'a down or champian ground, hilly and void of wood.' See, too, the examples from Mid. English given below]
Show examples

  • Se weald Pireni

    Pyrenaei saltus,

      Ors. 1. 1; Swt. 24, 10.

  • Gif hí (birds) ðæs wuda benugen . . . þincþ him wynsumre ðæt him se weald oncweþe, and hí gehíran óþerra fugela stemine

    si nemorum gratas viderit umbras . . . silvas tantum moesta requirit, silvas dulci voce susurrat,

      Bt. 25; Fox 88, 20: Met. 13, 92.

  • Wudes ne feldes, sandes ne strandes, wealtes ne wæteres,

      Lchdm. iii. 288, 1.

  • Wealdes treów (

    the cross

    ), Rood
      Kmbl. 34; Kr. 17.

  • Án wind of Calabria wealde

    de Calabris aura,

      Ors. 3, 3; Swt. 102, 8.

  • Se Limene múþa is on eásteweardre Cent, æt ðæs miclan wuda eástende ðe wé Andred hátaþ . . . seó eá líð út of ðæm wealda. On ða eá hí tugon up híora scipu óþ ðone weald iiii míla fram ðæm múþan útanweardum,

      Chr. 893; Erl. 88, 26-32.

  • On wealda,

      Cod. Dip. Kmbl. ii. 216, 4.

  • In Limenwero wealdo and in burhwaro uualdo,

      Cod. Dip. B. i. 344, 10, 11.

  • Wulf on wealde,

      937; Erl. 115, 14.

  • Wulf on walde,

      Elen. Kmbl. 55 ; El. 28 : Judth. Thw. 24, 25 ; Jud. 206. '
    Uton gán on ðysne weald, innan on dísses holtes hleó. ' Hwurfon hié . . . on ðone grénan weald, Cd. Th. 52, 6-10; Gen. 839-41.

  • Ðæt is wynsum wong, wealdas gréne, rúme under roderum,

      Exon. Th. 198, 21; Ph. 13.

  • Gewát him se æþeling wadan ofer wealdas,

      Cd. Th. 174, 30; Gen. 2886. ¶
    using the name of the whole for a part :-- Hié heora líchoman leáfum bebeahton, weredon mid ðý wealde, 52, 19; Gen. 846.
Etymology
[He is bicumen hunte and flihð ouer bradne wæld (feld, 2nd MS. ), Laym. 21339. Þe wald þe is ihaten Heðield, 31216. Fluȝen ouer þe woldes (feldes, 2nd MS. ), 20138. Lðen heo bi straten and bi walden, 12832. Wilde deor ꝥ on þeos wilde waldes (forests) wunieð, Marh. 10, 4. Elpes togaddre gon o wolde. Misc. 19, 606: O. and N. 1724. On ðe munt quor men Aaron in birieles dede. . . ðor hé lið doluen on ðat wold, Gen. and Ex. 3892. Þe holy gost hyne ledde up into þe wolde for to beon yuonded of sathanas, Misc. 38, 27. Yᵤ walde alpina, Cath. Angl. 406. O. Frs. O. Sax. wald wood: O. H. Ger. walt, wald silva, saltus, nemus, eremus: Icel. völlr a field, plain.]
Similar entries
v. út-, wudu-weald.
Linked entries
v.  weald-leþer wilde wealda geald.
Entry information
Citation

Bosworth, Joseph. “weald.” 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/34746.

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  • weald, n.

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