Word of the Day

Word of the Day: NEFANDOUS

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin nefandus (wicked, impious, abominable),
from ne- (not) + fandus (‘to be spoken’), gerundive of fārī (to speak) + -ous 

EXAMPLE
“…and it was for such things that savourd of a forreign clyme, and of some soft Levantine spirit rather than of a Druinian; there was a complication of many nefandous crimes, Sodomy and rap met in him with other base libidinous acts, and those displayed and prov’d with hatefull and horrid circumstances…”

From: Δενδρολογια.
Dodona’s Grove, Or The Vocall Forest
By James Howell, 1649

Word of the Day: SURQUIDANT

ETYMOLOGY
from Old French surcuidant (present participle of surcuidier) 
from popular Latin supercōgitāre ,
from super- (super- prefix) + cōgitāre (to think, to cogitate)

EXAMPLE
“…and yet they were but febly enformed in maister Porphiris problemes, and haue waded but weakly in his thre maner of clerkly workes, analeticall, topicall, and logycall: howbeit they were puffed so full of vaynglorious pompe and surcudant elacyon, that popholy and peuysshe presumpcion proyoked them to publysshe and to preche to people imprudet perilously…”

From: Honorificatissimo: Replycacion agaynst Yong Scolers
By John Skelton, 1528

Word of the Day: BA

ETYMOLOGY
for the verb: probably a nursery or jocular word, imitating the action of the lips in an infant’s kiss; 
Old French has baer, beer (to open the mouth, to gape);
also, possibly a contracted form of basse (to kiss)

EXAMPLE (for verb)
“…Thanne wolde I seye, “Goode lief, taak keep
How meekly looketh Wilkyn, oure sheep!
Com neer, my spouse, let me ba thy cheke!
Ye sholde been al pacient and meeke…”

From: The Wife of Bath’s Prologue
By Geoffrey Chaucer, c1386

Word of the Day: AMENOUS

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

Word of the Day: KICKIE-WICKIE

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

Word of the Day: RUTTERKIN

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

Word of the Day: WANHOPE

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