Anglo-Saxon
Early medieval Briton
Anglo-Saxon refers to the Germanic peoples—Angles, Saxons, and Jutes—who settled in England from the fifth century onward, or to their language, also called Old English.
The term describes the culture, art, and literature of early medieval England before the Norman Conquest.
In modern usage, Anglo-Saxon often means English-speaking or of English descent, sometimes with connotations of white Protestant heritage: Anglo-Saxon attitudes toward work.
The phrase Anglo-Saxon word is a euphemism for blunt, earthy vocabulary—the four-letter words English inherited from its Germanic roots rather than Latin or French. (Lowercase anglo-saxon is nonstandard.)
Old English epic's protagonist
- GrendelLegendary hall-raiding fiend
- epic poetryExtended narrative in verse
- kenningFigurative Norse compound
- illuminated manuscriptsHand-adorned medieval book pages
Old English epic's protagonist
- runesOld Germanic script
- kenningFigurative Norse compound
- alliterationMatching initial consonants
- inflectionWord form alteration
declension · vocabulary · syntax · phonology · dialects · manuscript · riddles · elegies
Seven-kingdom era in England
- WessexEarly medieval English kingdom
- MerciaMedieval English kingdom
- NorthumbriaEarly medieval English kingdom
- Alfred the GreatNinth-century Wessex monarch
Battle of Hastings · Norman Conquest · Edward the Confessor · Edgar · Canterbury · monasteries · Christianization · Bayeux Tapestry
Feudal lord of Scotland
- comitatusChieftain's band of warriors
- feastingEating sumptuously together
- burial customsPractices for interring dead
- craftsmanshipSkill in making objects
metalwork · jewelry · brooches · warrior · kinship · lord · loyalty · honor
Ancestral social groups
- GermanicOf Teutonic language stock
- JutesFifth-century British invaders
- FrisiansGermanic people, coastal Netherlands
- continentalOf a continent
migration · settlement · Britons · displacement · invasion · North Sea · homelands
Beowulf
Old English epic's protagonist
- GrendelLegendary hall-raiding fiend
- epic poetryExtended narrative in verse
- kenningFigurative Norse compound
Beowulf
Old English epic's protagonist
- runesOld Germanic script
- kenningFigurative Norse compound
- alliterationMatching initial consonants
inflection · declension · vocabulary · syntax · phonology · dialects · manuscript · riddles · elegies · homilies
Heptarchy
Seven-kingdom era in England
- WessexEarly medieval English kingdom
- MerciaMedieval English kingdom
- NorthumbriaEarly medieval English kingdom
Alfred the Great · Battle of Hastings · Norman Conquest · Edward the Confessor · Edgar · Canterbury · monasteries · Christianization · Bayeux Tapestry
thane
Feudal lord of Scotland
- comitatusChieftain's band of warriors
- feastingEating sumptuously together
- burial customsPractices for interring dead
craftsmanship · metalwork · jewelry · brooches · warrior · kinship · lord · loyalty · honor · goldsmith
tribes
Ancestral social groups
- GermanicOf Teutonic language stock
- JutesFifth-century British invaders
- FrisiansGermanic people, coastal Netherlands
continental · migration · settlement · Britons · displacement · invasion · North Sea · homelands
Woden
Anglo-Saxon supreme god
paganism · folklore · burial mounds · afterlife · sacred groves · runes · dragon · monster · Grendel
- BritainWales, Scotland, London, Northern Ireland, UK
- English languagelinguistics, semantics, phonetics, orthography, vocabulary
- English LiteratureShakespeare, Dickens, Jane Austen, Bronte, Chaucer
- Medieval Eraknights, Middle Ages, castles, feudal lords, medieval period
- etymologyword origins, word history, word origin, etymon, root words
- Medieval Englandking, kings, castle, castles, knight
Anglo-SaxonRomance
Latin-descended language group
Norman French · classical · elevated · polysyllabic · formal
Anglo-SaxonLatin
Ancient Roman language
Mediterranean · Hispanic · Slavic · Indigenous · non-Western
English, England, anglicize, Englishman, Englishwoman, Englishness, Saxon, anglicized, Angles