harefoot

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun illegitimate son of Canute who seized the throne of England in 1037 (died in 1040)

From Middle English hare-fot, equivalent to hare + foot. Compare Old English haran hiġe (“hare's-foot (plant)”).

And, indeed, we have something parallel to these in modern times, such as the names of Harold Harefoot, Edmund Ironside, Edward Longshanks, Edward the Black Prince, &c. If yet this be thought to account better for the propriety than for the repetition, I shall add a further conjecture. — The Iliad, Homer

Harold I, King Harold I, Harold Harefoot

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