Alsatia

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English

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Etymology

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Named for the region of Alsace, a region outside legislative and juridical lines. More at Alsatia.

Proper noun

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Alsatia

  1. (historical, slang) An area lying north of London's River Thames, once privileged as a sanctuary and thus known as a refuge for criminals. It spanned from the Whitefriars monastery to the south of the west end of Fleet Street and adjacent to the Temple.
    • 1822, Sir Walter Scott, chapter XVI, in The Fortunes of Nigel, Edinburgh:
      Whitefriars, adjacent to the Temple, then well known by the cant name of Alsatia, had at this time, and for nearly a century afterwards, the privilege of a sanctuary[.]
    • 1860, George Eliot, chapter VIII, in The Mill on the Floss, Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons:
      Maggie always appeared in the most amiable light at her aunt Moss’s; it was her Alsatia, where she was out of the reach of law[.]

Anagrams

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