Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
Wessex. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
Wessex, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
Wessex in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
Wessex you have here. The definition of the word
Wessex will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
Wessex, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Middle English Westsex, from Old English Westseaxan (literally “West Saxons”), which stood for both Wessex and its people. The use of Wessex in a modern context for the West Country was popularised by Thomas Hardy, who used the term for his semi-fictional setting based on the region.
Pronunciation
Proper noun
Wessex
- (historical) One of the seven major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, existing between the 6th and 9th centuries, and comprising most of England south of the Thames.
1894 December – 1895 November, Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, , published 1896, →OCLC:Grey-stoned and dun-roofed, it stood within hail of the Wessex border, and almost with the tip of one small toe within it, at the northernmost point of the crinkled line along which the leisurely Thames strokes the fields of that ancient kingdom.
- The West Country (south-west England).
2001, James R. Babb, River Music: A Fly Fisher’s Four Seasons, →ISBN, page 154:And I said I’d couch-surfed around Wessex and Wales and had a good time, and the train ride from Devon to Scotland was long and smoky […]
Translations