Dictionary

witan en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈwɪtən/

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Old English witan, plural of wita (“wise man”).

Meanings

1. The Anglo-Saxon national council or witenagemot.
   • But in estimating the powers of the witan, we must not lose sight of the fact, that the king sometimes assumes a tone of superiority scarcely consistent with its independence. 1833, S. A. Dunham, Europe in the Middle Ages, Green & Longman, page 48:
   • The folkland, the national fund, was administered and conveyed conjointly by the king and the witan. 1889, Hannis Taylor, The Origin and Growth of the English Constitution:

Forms