Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word cyning. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word cyning, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say cyning in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word cyning you have here. The definition of the word cyning will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofcyning, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
1805, Sharon Turner, “The King’s Election and Coronation”, in The History of the Manners, Landed Property, Government, Laws, Poetry, Literature, Religion, and Language, of the Anglo-Saxons, “The Government of the Anglo-Saxons”, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme,, page 247:
The firſt cynings of the Anglo Saxons ſeem to have been their war-kings, continued for life, and the crown was not hereditary, but elective.
1884, William Brockie, “Preface”, in The Gypsies of Yetholm: Historical, Traditional, Philological, and Humorous, Kelso: J. & J. H. Rutherfurd,, page iii:
To write the history of the numerous Gypsy dynasties in the British Isles, from the somewhat mythical days of Johnnie Faa to the demise of the last of his royal house who claimed and bore the royal title, would be a more difficult task than to trace and verify the genealogy of the petty cynings and bretwaldas of the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy up to Hengist, Horsa, and Ida, and thence back to Thor and Odin.
Then Saxon cynings ruled, with various fortune, / Six centuries; ( fighting ofttimes, king against king.)
2010, Steve Mollmann, Michael Schuster, “The Future Begins”, in What’s Past (Star Trek: Corps of Engineers), Gallery Books, →ISBN, page 176:
According to the public record, a dispute over some action of Iamor’s—Scotty had a good idea what action that was—had split the party asunder, meaning no one was able to achieve the majority in the Witenagemot necessary to create a functioning government. Unfortunately, one of the planet’s many provincial cynings had taken advantage of the lull in authority to revive a long-standing grudge with another cyning, weapons had been fired, and any chance of a unified Kropasar reemerging had died in the ensuing chaos.
þā wēop sē cyning and þancode gode his gōdan wyllan.
Then the king wept and thanked God for his good will.
Usage notes
When used as a title, cyning is usually placed after the king's name, unlike in modern English. Thus "King Edward" was Ēadweard cyning, not *cyning Ēadweard.
Many compounds which might be expected to contain cyning instead use the prefix cyne-(“royal, of a king”).
