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thane

noun

No English definition recorded for this entry.

L329221 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /θeɪn/

name

Etymology: Transliteration of Marathi ठाणे (ṭhāṇe). Doublet of thana.

  1. A large city and district of Maharashtra, India, part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

noun

Etymology: From Middle English theyn, thein, þein, from Old English þæġn, þeġen, þeġn, from Proto-West Germanic *þegn (“man, warrior”), from Proto-Germanic *þegnaz (“man, warrior”), from Proto-Indo-European *teḱ- (“to give birth”); akin to Dutch degen, German Degen, Old Norse þegn and Ancient Greek τέκνον (téknon, “child”).

  1. A rank of nobility in pre-Norman England, roughly equivalent to baron.

    Sonnes, Kinsmen, Thanes, / And you whose places are the nearest, know, / We will establish our Estate vpon / Our eldest, Malcolme, whom we name hereafter, / The Prince of Cumberland: […]

    The Anglo-Saxon thanes were in all respects the predecessors of the Norman barons. The title of thane seems to have supplanted that of gesith, which appears only in the earner Anglo-Saxon laws, a denomination that may originally have designated the attendants or companions of the king, and whose wergild being triple that of the simple freeman, were, therefore, denominated not only gesithcund men, but six-hynde men.