witenagemot

views updated May 18 2018

witenagemot an Anglo-Saxon national council or parliament. The name is Old English, and comes from witena, genitive plural of wita ‘wise man’ + gemōt ‘meeting’. The name witan is also used.

Witenagemot

views updated May 14 2018

Witenagemot

an assembly or council of the Witan, the Anglo-Saxon Council to the king; a modern assembly, e.g., the first select Witenagemot of the Sciences of the World, 1899; the Witenagemot at Cambridge, 1833.