cwen

Old English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From earlier cwœ̄n ← *kwœ̄ni ← *kwōni ← *kwą̄ni, from Proto-West Germanic *kwāni (“woman, wife”), from Proto-Germanic *kwēniz, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷḗn. Cognate with Old Saxon quān, Old Norse kvæn, Gothic 𐌵𐌴𐌽𐍃 (qēns). The Indo-European root is also the source of Ancient Greek γυνή (gunḗ), Proto-Slavic *žena, and Old Irish ben.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kweːn/

Noun

cwēn f

  1. queen (a ruling female monarch or a king's wife)
    • The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
      An. DCCCLV Hēr hǣþene men ǣrest on Sċeapiġġe ofer winter sǣtan...⁊ þȳ ilcan ġēare [Aþelwulf cing] ferde to Rōme mid myċelre weorðnesse ⁊ þǣr wæs XII mōnoð wuniġende, ⁊ him þā hāmweard fōr ⁊ him þā Carl Francna cing his dohtor ġēaf him tō cwēne, ⁊ æfter þām tō his lēodum cōm...
      Year 855 In this year the heathens stayed on Sheppey over the winter for the first time...And in the same year [King Athelwulf] went to Rome with much honor, and stayed there for twelve months. And them he went home and King Carl [the Bald] of the Franks gave him his daughter as a queen, and after that Athelwulf returned to his people.
    Engla cwēn
    The queen of England
  2. princess (a king's daughter)
  3. woman
  4. wife

Declension

Strong i-stem:

singular plural
nominative cwēn cwēne, cwēna
accusative cwēn, cwēne cwēne, cwēna
genitive cwēne cwēna
dative cwēne cwēnum

Synonyms

  • cyninge (rare word for queen)
  • friþuwebbe (figurative/kenning, literally “peace-weaver”)
  • hlǣfdīġe (“noble woman, lady, queen”)
  • wīf (the usual word for woman/wife)

Derived terms

  • cwene (“woman, wife”)

Descendants

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