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Sweet, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Sweet, Henry, 1845–1912, English philologist and phonetician. An authority on Anglo-Saxon and the history of the English language, Sweet was also a pioneer in modern scientific phonetics. His Histor...

Grundtvig, Nikolai Frederik Severin

(Encyclopedia)Grundtvig, Nikolai Frederik Severin nĭkōlīˈ frĭᵺˈərĭk sĕvərēnˈ gro͝ontˈvĭg [key], 1783–1872, Danish educator, minister, and writer, founder of the Danish folk high school. He came i...

Cornouaille

(Encyclopedia)Cornouaille kôrnwīˈ [key], district of Brittany, NW France, comprising parts of Finistère, Côtes-d'Armor, and Morbihan depts. The name was probably brought by Britons who fled Cornwall at the tim...

Christchurch, town and borough, England

(Encyclopedia)Christchurch, town and borough, Dorset, S central England, on Christchurch Bay at the confluence of the Avon and Stour rivers. The city's industries ran...

Rask, Rasmus Christian

(Encyclopedia)Rask, Rasmus Christian räsˈmo͝os krĭsˈtyän räsk [key], 1787–1832, Danish philologist. Rask was a major linguistic pioneer. He published one of the first usable Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic gramm...

Norman Conquest

(Encyclopedia)Norman Conquest, period in English history following the defeat (1066) of King Harold of England by William, duke of Normandy, who became William I of England. The conquest was formerly thought to hav...

Hereward the Wake

(Encyclopedia)Hereward the Wake hĕrˈĭwərd [key], fl. 1070, Anglo-Saxon rebel against William I. A thane, he apparently held land in Lincolnshire. In 1070 he sacked Peterborough with the aid of a Danish fleet an...

Cotton, Sir Robert Bruce

(Encyclopedia)Cotton, Sir Robert Bruce, 1571–1631, English antiquarian. The Cottonian collection of books, manuscripts, coins, and antiquities became a part of the British Museum when it was founded in 1753. Cott...

Widsith

(Encyclopedia)Widsith wĭdˈsĭth [key], 7th-century Anglo-Saxon poem found in the Exeter Book. It is an account of the wanderings of a Germanic minstrel and of the legends he relates. The poem gives an excellent d...

borough-English

(Encyclopedia)borough-English, a custom of inheritance in parts of England whereby land passed typically to the youngest son in preference to his older brothers. Of Anglo-Saxon origin, the custom was abolished by l...