Ealdormanic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Of or relating to an ealdorman, the chief official who governed a shire in Anglo-Saxon England
2. Pertaining to the office or rank of an ealdorman, a noble administrator in early English history
3. Characteristic of an ealdorman, the regional magistrate and military leader of Anglo-Saxon times

Etymology: Old English "ealdorman" was a senior office-holder, literally "elder man," combining "ealdor" (elder, lord, chief) with "man." The adjective "ealdormanic" takes that office and adds the suffix "-ic," meaning "of or pertaining to," so it describes what belongs to an ealdorman. Its close relative "aldermanic," the familiar form used for the civic offices of modern English towns, comes from the same source. The two are doublets: separate descendants of one Old English word that reached modern English by different routes, one preserved in the older form and the other reshaped later.