Bosworth Toller's

Anglo-Saxon

Dictionary online

æ
þ

brýten-walda

  • noun [ masculine ]
  • adjective
Dictionary links
Grammar
brýten-walda, brýten-wealda, bréten-ánwealda, an; m: brýten-weald, es; m.
A powerful ruler or king; præpotens rex. It is affirmed [Kmbl. Sax. Eng. ii. 21, and note i] that the true meaning of brýten-walda, compounded of walda a ruler, and the adj. brýten, is totally unconnected with Brettas or Bretwalas, the name of the British aborigines; for brýten is derived from breótan to bruise, break, to break into small portions, to disperse; and, when coupled with walda, wealda a ruler, king, means no more than an extensive or powerful king, a king whose power is widely extended. Many similar compounds are found, thus in Exon. 88 a; Th. 331,
    28; Vy. 75 we have brýten-cyning a powerful king exactly equivalent to brýten-walda. Brýten-grúnd the wide expanse of earth, 13a; Th. 22, 25; Cri. 357. Brýten-rice a spacious realm, 54 b; Th. 192, 17; Az. 107. Brýten-wong the spacious world, 13 a; Th. 24, 6; Cri. 380. The uncompounded adj. is used in the same sense. Breoton bold a spacious dwelling, Cd. 228; Th. 308, 3; Sae. 687. Turner thinks that the Bret-walda [Hist, of A. Sax. bk. iii. ch. 5, vol. i. pp. 318 and 378
] was a war-king, elected by the other Anglo-Saxon kings and their nobility, as their leader in the time of war. Lappenberg [Th. Lapbg. i. 125-129] takes the same view; while Kemble [Sax. Eng. ii. 8-21] opposes both Turner and Lappenberg, asserting that there was not any general ruler or superior war-king elected by the Anglo-Saxons, and that even Bret-walda [q. v.] does not refer to the Britons, that it is so written in only one MS. of the Chr. while each of the five others has the word brýten-, and therefore the word ought to be written as above, brýten-walda. Of these Brýten-waldan the Chronicle names the following eight, — Ðý geáre ge-eóde Ecgbriht cing Myrcna ríce, and eal ðæt be súþan Humbre wæs, and he wæs eahtoða cing, ðe brýtenwalda wæs. Ærest wæs Ælle, [Súþ-Seaxna] cing, se ðus mycel ríce hæfde. Se æftera wæs Ceawlin, West-Sexna cing. Se þridda wæs Æðelbriht, Cantwara cing. Se feórþa wæs Rǽdwald. Eást-Engla cing: fifta wæs Eádwine, Norþhymbra cing: syxta wæs Oswald, ðe æfter him ríxode: seofoða wæs Ósweo, Óswaldes bróðor: eahtoða Ecgbriht, West-Seaxna cing in this year [A. D. 827] king Ecgbriht subdued the kingdom of the Mercians, and all that was south of the Humber, and he was the eighth king, who was Brýtenwalda. The first was Ælle [A. D. 477-514], king of the South-Saxons, who had thus much sway. The second was Ceawlin [A. D. 560-593], king of the West-Saxons. The third was Æthelbriht [A. D. 593-616], king of the men of Kent. The fourth was Rædwald [A. D. 617 ?-515], king of the East-Angles: the fifth was Eadwine [A. D. 625-635], king of the Northumbrians: the sixth was Oswald [A. D. 635-642], who reigned after him: the seventh was Oswiu [A. D. 642-670], Oswald's brother: the eighth was Ecgbriht [A. D. 800-836], king of the West-Saxons, Chr. 827; Th. 112, 16-34, col. 2, 3 : Brýten-, Th. 113, 21: Palgrv. Eng. Com. pp. CCXXXIV-V.
Entry information
Citation

Bosworth, Joseph. “brýten-walda.” 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/5338.

Checked: 0
Full form

Word-wheel

  • brýten-walda, n.; adj.

Copyright

All the data provided here are free for any purpose. If you use the data for academic purposes, we ask that you kindly cite us as your source. In case you need a large portion of the dictionary data or you need it in a specific format, let us know through the contact form, we are happy to do custom database dumps for researchers.

How to cite

You can cite the entries of the online version of the dictionary, or you can cite the scanned pages of the original paper editions.

  • To cite the online version of the dictionary, click the icon right under the entry.
  • To cite the scanned paper version of the dictionary, click the "show/hide this scanned page" link under the entry, check the scan and use the citation information right above it.