Bosworth Toller's

Anglo-Saxon

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BIL

  • noun [ neuter ]
Dictionary links
Grammar
BIL, bill, es; n.
An old military weapon, with a hooked point, and an edge on the back, as well as within the curve, a BILL or a broad two-edged sword, a falchion. Whatever its shape, it must have had two edges; as, in the earliest poem, an envoy is attacked, billes ecgum, with the edges of a bill; falx, marra, falcastrum, ensis curvus. Hitherto this word has only been found in poetry
Show examples

  • Ðá ic, on morgne, gefrægn mǽg óðerne billes ecgum on bonan stælan

    then on the morrow, I have heard of the other kinsman setting on the slayer with the edges of a bill,

    • Beo. Th. 4963
      • ;
    • B. 2485.

  • Geseah ðá sige-eádig bil, eald sweord eótenisc

    then he saw a victorious bill, an old giant sword,

    • Beo. Th. 3119
      • ;
    • B. 1557.

  • Abrægd mid ðý bille

    he brandished with his sword,

    • Cd. 142
      • ;
    • Th. 177, 17
      • ;
    • Gen. 2931.

  • Billa ecgum

    with the edges of swords,

    • Cd. 210
      • ;
    • Th. 260, 14
      • ;
    • Dan. 709.

  • Billum abreótan

    to destroy with swords,

    • Cd. 153
      • ;
    • Th. 190, 14
      • ;
    • Exod. 199.
Etymology
[
Laym. bil a falchion:
O. Sax. bil, n:
Dut. bijl, f:
Ger. beil, beihel, n:
M. H. Ger. bíle, bíl, n:
O. H. Ger. bihal, bial, n:
Sansk. bil to divide; findere.
]
Derived forms
gúþ-bil
Linked entries
v.  bill.
Entry information
Citation

Bosworth, Joseph. “BIL.” In An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online, edited by Thomas Northcote Toller, Christ Sean, and Ondřej Tichy. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, 2014. https://bosworthtoller.com/4331.

Checked: 1
Full form

Word-wheel

  • BIL, n.

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