| Cult of kingship | A sacral dimension to secular rulership. It has been argued that Anglo-Saxon kings enjoyed a degree of sacral reverence even after the conversion of their kingdoms. |
| Periphrasis | The deployment of multiple words instead of a single inflected word. In the Germanic languages, periphrastic verb constructions are typically used to express passive voice, and frequently for the future tense and perfective aspect. |
| Polythetic system | A system composed of several parts, none of which is essential to the definition of the system |
| Synod of Whitby | A synod of Anglo-Saxon bishops in 664 which ruled against the Irish dating of Easter |