gemot

English

Alternative forms

• gemote, gemoot

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Old English ġemōt (“meeting, council, moot, encounter”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɡɪˈməʊt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɡɪˈmoʊt/

Noun

gemot (plural gemots)

1. (historical) A (legislative or judicial) assembly in Anglo-Saxon England.
   • 1849, John Mitchell Kemble, The Saxons in England: A History:

     a.d. 978. — In this year was held the celebrated gemot at Calne in Wiltshire, when the floor gave way […]

   • 1895, Geoff Horton, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints:

     Each division had a court subordinate to those that were superior, the highest in each shire being the shire-gemot, or folck-mote, […]

2. (by extension, rare) Any assembly.
   • 1984, David Dvorkin, The Trellisane Confrontation:

     I have spoken to Veedron, a member of one of Trellisane's many gemots, or ruling councils.

Related terms

• moot
• witenagemot

Old English

Etymology

From ġe- +‎ *mōt, the latter from Proto-Germanic *mōtą (“meeting”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jeˈmoːt/

Noun

ġemōt n

1. meeting (encounter, assembly, or confluence)
   • 10th century, Exeter Book Riddle 5‎^[1]:

     …iċ ābīdan sceal lāþran ġemōtes.

     …I shall bide more hateful fight.

2. court or judicial assembly

Declension

Strong a-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	ġemōt	ġemōt
accusative	ġemōt	ġemōt
genitive	ġemōtes	ġemōta
dative	ġemōte	ġemōtum

Synonyms

• mēting
• þing

Derived terms

• burgġemōt (“town meeting”)
• ċēapunggemōt (“market”)
• folcġemōt (“public meeting”)
• ġemōtstōw (“meeting place”)
• gūþġemōt (“battle, combat”)
• handġemōt (“battle”)
• hundredġemōt (“hundred-moot”)
• mǣġġemōt (“meeting of kinsmen”)
• mearcġemōt (“court for settling boundaries of properties”)
• sċīrġemōt (“county meeting”)
• tornġemōt (“battle”)
• witena ġemōt (“king's court”)

Descendants

• Middle English: mōt, ȝemōt
  • English: moot
  • Scots: mut, mote

References

• Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “gemot”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary‎^[2], 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.