ring-giver
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.19 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A ruler or chieftain who distributed rings or other valuable gifts to loyal warriors, thanes, or retainers as a means of rewarding service and reinforcing bonds of allegiance and mutual obligation.
Example Sentences
- "This kind of money was probably used by the Anglo-Saxons long after their settlement in England; and the name of "ring-giver," as an epithet of princes, was preserved perhaps to the time of the Norman conquest."
- "Then they confirm'd on the two sides a fast peaceful compact; [...] that there not any man. by words or works, should break the compact, nor through guileful craft should they ever lament, though they their ring-giver’s slayer follow'd, now lordless, as it was thus needful to them."
- "The opening prologue and the closing epilogue praise Gloucester lavishly by name, and he appears elsewhere in its long nine books as both lawgiver and ring-giver."
- "The kings needed their support, and like the old Germanic ‘ring-givers’ were forced to secure loyalty by generous giving: in their case by lands and immunities."
- "They stretched their beloved lord in his boat, laid out by the mast, amidships, the great ring-giver."
- "Another instance is the Anglo-Saxon scop, who sat close to the ring-givers and was much appreciated for an ability to transform action into narrative."