witenagemot (plural witenagemots)
(history, usually, uncountable, sometimes, countable) Any of several assemblies which existed in Anglo-Saxon England from the 7th to the 11th century, initially with regional jurisdiction (there being different ones in Essex, Kent, Mercia, Northumbria, Sussex and Wessex), later with national jurisdiction, made up of important noblemen.
(history, countable) A specific session of such an assembly.
• The spelling (and capitalization) of this word has historically been quite variable. Since 1850, witenagemot has been the most common form; historically, the most common form was wittenagemot, followed by wittenagemote, wittena-gemote and wittena-gemot, but all of those forms became uncommon (compared to their former commonness and to witenagemot) after 1900.
• In the past, assemblies other than and more modern/contemporaneous than the old Anglo-Saxon ones were on rare occasion described using this word. That practice ceased before 1900. See wittena-gemote for more.
Source: Wiktionary
4 April 2025
(verb) kill by cutting the head off with a guillotine; “The French guillotined many Vietnamese while they occupied the country”
Coffee dates back to the 9th century. Goat herders in Ethiopia noticed their goats seem to be “dancing” after eating berries from a particular shrub. They reported it to the local monastery, and a monk made a drink out of it. The monk found out he felt energized and kept him awake at night. That’s how the first coffee drink was born.
