m. The word occurs in the following apparently corrupt passage:--Gif frigman mannan forstele gif hé eft cuma stermelda secge an andweardne gecænne hine gif hé mǽge if a freeman steal a man; if he (the man who has been stolen) come back to give information of the theft, let him make his charge against the thief when the latter is present; let him (the thief) clear himself if he can, L. H. E. 5; Th. i. 28, 10. In the note on this passage stermelda is taken as steórmelda = delator fiscalis; Schmid. on the other hand, gives the meaning 'delator qui rem, factum (stær) prodit.' Perhaps for stermelda might be written stelmelda, a sense which has been given in the translation above. ster-melda