Wardmote

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈwɔːdməʊt/

Definitions

1. A historical local gathering aimed at governing and managing affairs within a specific ward community A meeting of neighborhood residents to address and decide on local issues An electoral assembly focused on governance and decision-making within a ward's jurisdiction
2. A traditional meeting held by members of a ward to discuss and regulate local matters
3. An organized gathering within a territorial district focusing on administrative and communal concerns

Etymology: A wardmote was a meeting of the people of a ward, the district into which a city such as London was divided for administrative purposes. The word is a compound of two Old English-derived elements. "Ward" comes from the Old English "weard," meaning guard, watch or a district under a guardian's care, and it passed into the sense of a subdivision of a town. "Moot" comes from Old English "gemot," a meeting or assembly, and is related to the verb "to meet." So the whole word simply means a meeting of a ward. The second element is the more surprising one. "Moot" once named the serious assemblies of Anglo-Saxon England, such as the witenagemot, the council of wise men that advised kings. Its sense narrowed over time until, in modern English, "moot" mostly means a point open to debate, as in "a moot point," while the meeting itself survives mainly in compounds like this one.