thane
noun
Example Sentences
Lisa Kim, Forbes, 15 Apr. 2022 Speculation has centered on Ross, Lennox (another thane) and even Macbeth himself in disguise. Los Angeles Times, 14 Jan. 2022 Denzel Washington plays the murderous thane, while Frances McDormand portrays his bloodthirsty, sleepwalking wife, hellbent on Macbeth becoming King of Scotland. Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 14 Jan. 2022 Fahey's swaggering thane falls apart easily once unmoored from his previous stance as a noble defender of Jack Hickey's Duncan. Kerry Reid, chicagotribune.com, 26 June 2017 It was settled 1,000 years ago, give or take, when the king gave land to one of his thanes, Earl Aelfheah. Jennifer Moses, New York Times, 7 July 2016 Word History
Middle English theyn, thayn (early Scots thayne, thane) "man, servant, noble holding land in exchange for service, retainer," going back to Old English þegn, þegen "servant, attendant, retainer, warrior, thane," going back to Germanic *þegna- (whence also Old Saxon thegan, degan "boy, servant, man, follower of a nobleman, warrior," Old High German, "young man, warrior, hero, member of a lord's retinue," Old Norse þegn "man, freeman, retainer, subject"), of uncertain origin
Note: The traditional etymology for this Germanic word sees it as cognate with Greek téknon "child, young of an animal" (see dystocia), thereby assuming that the meaning "boy" or "youth" is primary. The comparison has been rejected recently on the grounds that a proto-form *tek-no- would yield either *þehna- or *þekka- in Germanic (depending on the position of the accent), not *þegna-. Guus Kroonen (Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Brill, 2013) suggests a derivation from Germanic *þegjan- "to request, entreat," though it would require the sense "man owing his status to a superior, retainer" to be primary and the senses "boy, youth, man" to be secondary—a progression not usually found with semantically similar words.
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Geographical Definition
Thane
geographical name