wapentake
/ˈwɒp(ə)nteɪk
/ /ˈwap(ə)nteɪk/noun historical
(In the UK) a subdivision of certain northern and midland English counties, corresponding to a hundred in other counties.The shire was divided into wapentakes rather than hundreds, and many of the place-names - Ingarsby, Scraptoft, and Barkby Thorpe - are of Scandinavian origin....
- Where Scandinavian influence was strongest, such as Yorkshire and the Five Boroughs, the equivalent sub-division was the wapentake.
- The first step was to divide the shires into hundreds (in Danish areas, the term wapentake was used), a reorganisation which probably occurred during the reigns of Edward the Elder and Athelstan.
Origin
Late Old English wǣpen(ge)tæc, from Old Norse vápnatak, from vápn 'weapon' + taka 'take', perhaps with reference to voting in an assembly by a show of weapons.