Langland

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The 14th-century English poet traditionally credited with writing Piers Plowman ; a sandy bay on the Gower peninsula in South Wales
2. The medieval author associated with the allegorical poem Piers Plowman ; a seaside bay lying along the Gower coast of Wales
3. A 14th-century English writer of the alliterative verse Piers Plowman ; a coastal bay in southern Wales on the Gower peninsula

Etymology: Langland is the surname of the medieval English poet William Langland, whom we know mainly from the poem "Piers Plowman" and the manuscripts that transmit it. The name is probably a place-name surname, most likely from Middle English "lang" (long) and "land" (strip of land), but the exact origin is uncertain. Scholars also debate whether the surname really belonged to the poet or was attached to the poem later. The poem is one of the most important works of Middle English. It survives in three distinct versions, and the poet's identity rests almost entirely on what the texts say about themselves and on later scribal attributions. Because little else is known of him, his name is one of the few surviving clues to who he was.