gesithman

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Old English ġesīþman.

Noun

gesithman (plural gesithmen)

1. A gesith.
   • 1818, Samuel Heywood, A Dissertation upon the Distinctions in Society, and Ranks of the People, under the Anglo-Saxon Governments, London: […] W. Clarke and Sons, page 251:

     If any one received into his family a ceorl who fled from justice, he was obliged to pay his own were, but if he refused he was compellable to pay his own were, and then his gesithman was bound to pay his were also. Here the stranger, by being admitted into the family of another, became the gesithman of his host.

   • 1830, John Allen, Inquiry into the Rise and Growth of the Royal Prerogative in England, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, page 149:

     The gesiths, gesithmen, or gesithcundmen, were the military companions or followers of the Anglo-Saxon chiefs and Kings.

   • 1865, W[illiam] E[densor] Littlewood, The Essentials of English History, 2nd edition, London: Longman, Green, Longman & Roberts; Wakefield: Alfred W. Stanfield, page 8:

     Next to him in dignity came the ealdorman, and then the king’s thanes or gesithmen.