Forms: 1 Engla land, 2 Engle land, 3 Englene, Engle lond, 3–4 Engelond(e, 3 Enkelonde, 4 Engelande, Ingland, Yng(e)lond, 5 En-, Inglonde, 4– England. [OE. Ęngla land, lit. ‘the land of the Angles’: see ENGLISH, ANGLE3.
This word and its cognates, English, etc., are the only instances in which in mod. standard English the letter e stands in an accented syllable for (i). The change of an earlier (eŋ) into (iŋ) is strictly normal, and in all other examples the spelling has followed the pronunciation. Cf. wing, ME. wenge; string, OE. stręnge; link, OE. hlęnce.]
† 1. The territory of the Angles, as distinguished from that of the Saxons. Only in OE. (rare.)
c. 890. K. Ælfred, Bæda, IV. xxvi. § Ðæt mynster Æbbercurniʓ ðæt is ʓeseted on Engla lande [L. in regione Anglorum].
2. The southern part of the island of Great Britain; usually, with the exception of Wales. Sometimes loosely used for: Great Britain. Often: The English (or British) nation or state.
In the writings of Ælfred and the earlier parts of the OE. Chronicle, the name Angel-cynn race of the Angles (= Bæda’s gens Anglorum) is used to denote collectively the Teutonic peoples in Britain, and also the territories which they occupied. This seems to have been the only general name for the country until the Danish conquest, when it was superseded by Engla land.
[c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past., 5. Hu ða ciricean ʓiond eall Angelcynn stodon maðma … ʓefyldæ.
O. E. Chron., an. 1002. Se cyng het ofslean ealle ða Deniscan men þe on Angel cynne wæron.]
O. E. Chron., an 1014. And æfre ælcne Deniscne cyng utlah of Engla lande ʓecwædon.
1154. O. E. Chron., an. 1131. Swa hit næfre ær ne wæs on manne ʓemynd ofer eall Engle land.
c. 1205. Lay., 17. Wonene heo comen Þa Englene londe ærest ahten. Ibid., 6317. Engelondes deorling.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 82. Eresie, God beo iðoncked, ne rixleð nout in Engelond.
a. 1250. Prov. Ælfred, in O. E. Misc., 12. On Englene londe [a. 1275 in Enkelonde] he wes kyng.
a. 1300[?]. O. E. Misc., xviii. 1. Engle lond is eyhte hundred Myle long.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8. Þe first conquerour of Ingland. Ibid., 24893. Quen þou cums in-til england. Ibid. (c. 1340), 24774 (Fairf.). Þen bare William þe seigniorie of Ingelonde & of normandie.
1538. Starkey, England, I. ii. 67. Hyt be almost impossybul to … set such a commyn wele among vs here in Englond.
1605. Shaks., Macb., III. i. 31. Our bloody Cozens are bestow’d In England, and in Ireland.
1702. Addr. fr. Lancaster, in Lond. Gaz., No. 3804/5. A Princess born in Old England.
3. transf. A country or district peopled by men of English origin, or of a kindred race. rare.
1834. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), III. 40. [Belgium], an older England than our own.
1883. W. Sikes, in Harper’s Mag., Feb., 342/2. The part of Pembrokeshire which for centuries has been dubbed ‘Little England beyond Wales.’
1886. Pall Mall Gaz., 7 Dec., 1/1. A Conference of all the Englands over sea.
4. Short for The King of England, also for the inhabitants of England, or a portion of them, as in ‘Young England,’ for which see YOUNG.
1595. Shaks., John, II. i. 482. Speake England first, that hath bin forward first To speake vnto this Cittie.
