Hereweard

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An eleventh-century English nobleman who led a guerrilla resistance against the Norman conquest from the Isle of Ely
2. The name of an Anglo-Saxon rebel who fought the Norman invaders of England from his base in the fenlands
3. A legendary English outlaw figure of the Norman period, remembered for resisting William the Conqueror's rule in the marshes

Etymology: Hereweard is the name of an Anglo-Saxon resistance leader, and the name itself is an Old English compound: "here" meaning "army" or "host," and "weard" meaning "guardian" or "watchman," so the name means roughly "army guardian" or "protector of the host." The name is best known from the Middle English-era Gesta Herewardi, a Latin account written in the 12th century, which recounts the exploits of Hereward the Wake, who resisted the Norman conquest of England from the Isle of Ely in 1070-1071. The spelling "Hereweard" is the Old English form, and the modern "Hereward" is a later reduction of the same name. The second element, "weard," is the same root found in "ward," "warden," and "steward," which makes the name transparent to English speakers even though its first element has largely dropped out of common use. Words like "harry" and "harrow" do not come from it, despite the surface resemblance, since they descend from different roots.