[Facts] Re: Hygelac
in reply to a message by Visitor
Anglo-Saxon used some name-elements for males, some for females and some on both, but as the last poster said, noun-gender and real gender didn't necessarily correspond at all, and it was quite usual for male names to have feminine word-elements in both first and last place.
-lac seems to have been used exclusively on males. There's St Guthlac, for example, whose name comes from gúð + lac, gúð being a feminine word meaning 'battle'; and king Oslac of Sussex, whose name comes from ós + lac, ós being a masculine word meaning 'god'.
-lac seems to have been used exclusively on males. There's St Guthlac, for example, whose name comes from gúð + lac, gúð being a feminine word meaning 'battle'; and king Oslac of Sussex, whose name comes from ós + lac, ós being a masculine word meaning 'god'.
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That should say 'Anglo-Saxons', sorry, got logged out before I caught the typo.