- Angle
-
/ang"geuhl/, n.a member of a West Germanic people that migrated from Sleswick to Britain in the 5th century A.D. and founded the kingdoms of East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria. As early as the 6th century their name was extended to all the Germanic inhabitants of Britain.[ < OE Angle pl. (var. of Engle) tribal name of disputed orig.; perh. akin to ANGLE2 if meaning was fisher folk, coastal dwellers]
* * *
Any member of a Germanic people who, with the Jutes and Saxons, invaded England in the 5th century AD.According to Bede, their homeland was Angulus, traditionally identified as the Angeln district in Schleswig. They abandoned this area when they invaded Britain, where they settled in the kingdoms of Mercia, Northumbria, East Anglia, and Middle Anglia. Their language was known, even then, as Englisc, and they gave their name to England.* * *
▪ peoplemember of a Germanic people, which, together with the Jutes, Saxons, and probably the Frisians, invaded England in the 5th century AD. The Angles gave their name to England, as well as to the word Englisc, used even by Saxon writers to denote their vernacular tongue. The Angles are first mentioned by Tacitus (1st century AD) as worshipers of the deity Nerthus. According to the Venerable Bede in the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, their continental homeland was centred in Angulus, traditionally identified as the Angeln district in Schleswig between the Schlei inlet and the Flensburger Förde, which they appear to have abandoned at the time of their invasion of Britain. They settled in large numbers during the 5th and 6th centuries in the kingdoms of Mercia, Northumbria, and East and Middle Anglia.* * *
Universalium. 2010.