Cross

Cross is a common word in modern English, but in Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, it was not common (except in northern place names, such as Crosby). Rood, related to 'rod', was the word used at the time for a cross (cf Holyrood Palace).

 

Most sources say that 'cross' is from the Latin crux, but crux was adopted only in the late Old English period, whereas, as mentioned above, cros was used in the north and east of England earlier than this. The OED says that this apparently came from the Norse kross, which in turn came from the Old Irish cros.