ETYMOLOGY
from Latin amœnus (pleasant) + –ous
EXAMPLE
“…Whose mynde was none other but to pass the time, and their predestinate perpetual captivitie in the amenous varietie of over reading and revoluting many volumes and sundry books of divers sciences and strange matters…”
From: Some Specimens of the Poetry of the Antient Welsh Bards
By the Rev. Mr. Evan Evans, 1764
A Poem Entitled, The Ode of the Months, composed by Bwilym Ddu of Arfon, to Sir John Griffydd Llwyd, of Tregarnedd and Dinornig
ETYMOLOGY
apparently a humorous formation of kicksey-winsey (a whim or erratic fancy)
EXAMPLE
“…Parolles. I that would be knowne: too’th warrs my boy, too’th warres: He weares his honor in a boxe vnseene, That hugges his kickie wickie heare at home, Spending his manlie marrow in her armes Which should sustaine the bound and high curuet Of Marses fierie steed: to other Regions, France is a stable, wee that dwell in’t Iades, Therefore too’th warre…”
From: All’s Well that Ends Well
By William Shakespeare, a1616
ETYMOLOGY
from rutter (a dashing gallant) + -kin
EXAMPLE
“…COURTLY ABUSION. Huffa, huffa, taunderum, taunderum tayne, huffa, huffa
CLOAKED COLLUSION (To the audience.) This was properly prated, sirs. Wat said a?…”
COURTLY ABUSION. Rutty bully jolly rutterkin, heyda!
CLOAKED COLLUSION. De que pays este vous…”
From: Magnyfycence
By John Skelton, a1529
ETYMOLOGY
from wan- (a prefix approximately equivalent to un- or mis-) + hope
EXAMPLE
“…& is men as in wanhope wende hom aȝen bliue
So þat ich hopie to god pais þe wule ich am aliue
Messagers to denemarch sone isend were
& as þe king adde ised al clene hii founde þere…”
From: The Metrical Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester, 1297
ETYMOLOGY
for n.1., apparently a reduplication with vowel variation of trim (adj.);
for n. 2., apparently a whimsical application of n.1.
EXAMPLE
“…Esebon, Marybon, Wheston next Barnet;
A trym tram for an horse myll it were a nyse thyng;
Deyntes for dammoysels, chaffer far fet:
Bo ho doth bark wel, but Hough ho he rulyth the ring…”
From: Speke Parott
By John Skelton, 1523
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin scrūtārī (to examine, scrutinize)
EXAMPLE
“…In no other maner or fassyon tem
Be the yeres of men whyche so sone over go
My synne and inequite why doste thou scrute so
And yet thou knowest that in me no synne shall be fande
Sythe no man may eschape thy mortall hande …”
From: The Prymer, Salysbery Use, 1536
ETYMOLOGY
from Anglo-Norman peisant, peisaunt, pesaunt, Anglo-Norman and Middle French pesant (of things – heavy, massive, oppressive, wearisome, difficult), (of the hand, a blow, etc. – forcible, coming down heavily), (of people – slow, sluggish), use as adjective of present participle of peiser , peser (to weigh)
EXAMPLE
“…But as for so poure a man as I, there would none aduocate pleden without wages paid byfore in honde; for pledours in worldly courtes hauen tonges lyke to t he languet of the balaunce that draweth hym alwey to the more peysaunt party, that better wyl rewarden…”
From: The Booke of the Pylgremage of the Sowle,
Translated from the French of Guillaume de Deguileville
ETYMOLOGY
from weed (n.) + -ling
EXAMPLE
“…PLANTING. MARCH 26.
This morning marked out the weedling-plants of a plantation, made by the late Sir William Harbord twenty-give to thirty years ago…”
From: The Rural Economy of Norfolk
By William Marshall, 1782
ETYMOLOGY
from French cagnard (sluggard)
(according to Littré, from Italian cagna bitch, fem. of cane dog)
EXAMPLE
“…He leneþ on is forke ase a grey frere
þis crokede caynard sore he is adred
Hit is mony day go þat he was here
ichot of is ernde he naþ nout ysped …”
From: The Harley Lyrics, a1350
ETYMOLOGY
perhaps after Middle French, French petit-fils (grandson, grandchild)
EXAMPLE
“… is the transporting ȝoure littil son and my onelie child in this countrey. To the quhilk albeit I be never sa willing, I wald be glaid to have ȝoure advyse therein, as in all uther thingis tuiching him. I have born him…”
From: The Love Letters of Mary, Queen of Scots
– Hugh Campbell, 1824
Letter written to the Countess of Lennox, July 10, 1570
Lexicophilia 