Dictionary

peace weaver en · NOUN

Etymology

Calque of Old English friþowebba, from friþ (“peace”) + webba (“weaver”).

Meanings

1. In early Teutonic culture, a noblewoman viewed as bringing about and maintaining peace between kin groups.
   • This alliance of convenience was a classic example of the Anglo-Saxon concept of the female ‘peace weaver’ - the woman whose feminine qualities were supposed to weave new bonds of family loyalty. 1999, Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger, The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of The First Millennium, London: Abacus, published 2000, page 165:
   • He opened wide the treasure of his breast, Just as the dear peace weaver bade, The herald who had made him glad. 1895, Jane Menzies, Cynewulf’s ‘Elene’: A Metrical Translation from Zupitza’s Edition, Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, page 19:

Forms