Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to the Salian Franks.
  • adjective Of or relating to Salic law.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Salian.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French salique, from Medieval Latin Salicus, from Late Latin Saliī, the Salian Franks.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin Salicus, from Latin Salii ("Salian Franks") + -icus

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word Salic.

Examples

  • "I say, that unluckily there exists in France a law they call the Salic law, which destroys all our pretensions."

    Chicot the Jester Alexandre Dumas p��re 1836

  • Custom, entitled the Salic law, has excluded them from the crown of France; but it is not, as Mézeray remarks, in consequence of their unfitness for governing, since they are almost always intrusted with the regency.

    A Philosophical Dictionary 2007

  • This established the principle, later called the Salic Law, that the throne could pass only through males.

    c. France 2001

  • The chief of these were the Burgundians, who were the first to establish themselves in burgs, in the country between the Alps and the Rhone, and were already Christians; and the Franks, who came over the Rhine, and whose royal line was properly called the Salic (from the river Yssel), but is also known as the Meerwings (sons of Meerwig), and as the Long-haired, because unshorn locks were a token of royal descent.

    A Parallel History of France and England; Consisting of Outlines and Dates 1871

  • Now there was an ancient law prevailing in certain portions of France, called the Salic law, [C] by which female children were excluded from inheriting the possessions of their fathers.

    Richard II Makers of History Jacob Abbott 1841

  • In France, however, there is a law called the 'Salic' law, which excludes females from the throne; but it is maintained by many learned in the law, that although a female is held to be incompetent to reign because from her sex she cannot lead her armies to battle, yet she no ways forfeits otherwise her rights, and that her son is therefore the heir to the throne.

    St. George for England 1867

  • Aragon on the other hand, followed Salic law which meant that only a male could inherit the throne.

    Archive 2009-06-01 Elizabeth Kerri Mahon 2009

  • Basing their interpretation feudal law on the ancient Salic Law, royal inheritance could not pass to a woman or through a woman to her offspring.

    Archive 2008-03-02 de Brantigny........................ 2008

  • Basing their interpretation feudal law on the ancient Salic Law, royal inheritance could not pass to a woman or through a woman to her offspring.

    Hundred Years War Background part 2 de Brantigny........................ 2008

  • And certainly inheritance is only through the male or line plus or minus the odd Salic Law or two.

    Correcting Reality 2008

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.