thyle

plural thyles · alternative thulr

1. historicalA member of an early medieval Scandinavian or Anglo-Saxon court whose exact function is now unclear, but appears to roughly have been that of an authority on the fields of history and legend, especially their recital and interpretation.

   Man alien in a hostile world, engaged in a struggle which he cannot win while the world lasts, is assured that his foes are the foes also of Dryhten, that his courage noble in itself is also the highest loyalty: so said thyle and clerk.

   1936, J. R. R. Tolkien, Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, Norwood, Pa.: Norwood Editions, published 1976, page 25