Cynehelm

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An ornate helmet or crown worn by a king, a symbol of royal power in Old English poetry
2. The headgear of a monarch, especially a helmet or crown marking royal rank in early English verse
3. A kingly helmet or diadem, traditionally associated with a ruler's authority in Anglo-Saxon writing

Etymology: Cynehelm is an Old English compound, and its two halves tell you exactly what it means: "cyne-", from "cyning" (king), combined with "helm" (helmet, protection, or covering). The literal sense is "royal helm" or "king's helmet." In Old English it was a poetic term for the crown itself, the physical headgear worn by a king. The word appears in Old English verse, most notably in the poem "Beowulf" and other surviving texts, where helm-compounds were a favored way of naming rulers and their symbols of office. Because "helm" could mean any protective covering for the head and also, figuratively, a protector or guardian, the compound carried a sense of the king as the one who shields his people as well as the one who wears the crown. Like many Old English compounds, cynehelm fell out of everyday use after the Norman Conquest, when French-derived vocabulary took over court and official language. It survives today mainly in dictionaries and in scholarly discussions of Anglo-Saxon poetry.

Synonyms: crown, diadem, coronet