| 释义 |
Mercian, a. and n.|ˈmɜːsɪən, ˈmɜːʃ(ɪ)ən|
Also 6 Mercyen, -tian.
[f. Mercia (latinized from OE. Męrce, Mierce, pl., lit. ‘people of the march, marchers, borderers’, f. mearc mark n.1) + -an.]
A. adj. Of or belonging to the Old English kingdom of Mercia or its language.
Although the political limits of Mercia were different at different periods, it may broadly be said to have occupied the middle of South Britain, between Deira on the north and Wessex on the south, and between Wales on the west and Lindsey and East Anglia on the east. The Mercian dialect of Old English belongs to the Anglian (as opposed to the Saxon) division, and is the dialect from which modern standard English mainly descends.
1655Fuller Ch. Hist. ii. 89 Wolphere, the Mercian King. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XI. 400/2 The extent of the Mercian territories was so ample as to admit..the constituting subordinate rulers. 1842Wright Lyric P. Pref. 6 We have another Mercian legend in Latin, De Martyrio Sancti Wistani. 1887Skeat Holy Gosp. in A.S. Pref. 7 The Old Mercian dialect. Ibid., The Old Mercian glosses in the Rushworth MS. are of peculiar interest.
B. n.
1. A native or inhabitant of Mercia.
1513Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 121 Her fathers kyngedome the realme of Mercyens. 1590Spenser F.Q. iii. iii. 30 It shall make The warlike Mertians for feare to quake. 1656Blount Glossogr. s.v. Merchenlage, The third [division of England] was possessed and governed by the Mercians. 1876Lumby Introd. to Higden (Rolls) VI. p. xxxv, Victory declared for the Mercians.
2. The dialect of Old English spoken in Mercia.
1887Skeat Holy Gosp. in A.S. Pref. 7 A man whose ordinary dialect was Mercian. 1889Ibid. Introd., The present edition of the Four Gospels (in Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Northumbrian and Old Mercian) brings together [etc.]. |