ETYMOLOGY
from notion + -ate
EXAMPLE
“…I pray remember my seruice to Mr Dury & the Ladies, & remembringe him of notionatinge his essay vpon Mr Webbe…”
From: Letter 2, November 2, 1645
By Cheney Culpeper
In 17th-Century Political and Financial Papers, 1996
ETYMOLOGY
of obscure formation: possibly a blend of nidiot and nodcock (a fool, a simpleton)
EXAMPLE
“…And as touching implements for warre, they were neuer such fond niddicockes, as to offer anie man a rod to beat their owne tailes, or to betake their mastiues vnto the custodie of the woolues, maruelling much that their capteine would so farre ouershoot himselfe, as to be taken with such apparent repugnancie….”
From: R. Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1577
ETYMOLOGY
from nimble + the plural of chop (the jaws and cavity of the mouth)
EXAMPLE
“…Why frend Nimblechaps me thinks you seeme rather ready to play with ye shadowe of euery thing then wi[l]ling to vnderstand the substantiall matter in any thing: can you rightly gather vpon my speech that a woman is euill? if you do well vnderstande mee, you shal finde nothing lesse, but rather that shee is for the most parte one of the greatest good thinges in this world, and most necessary of any thing els besydes…”
From: A Short Inuentory of Certayne Idle Inuentions
The Fruites of a Close and Secret Garden of Great Ease, and Litle Pleasure
By C. Thimelthorpe, 1581
ETYMOLOGY
from nothing + worth
EXAMPLE (for adv.)
“…Who wil then reproue me as a lyar, & saye yt my wordes are nothinge worth?…”
From: Biblia : the Bible tha[t] is the Holy Scripture of th[e] Olde and New Testament faithfully and truly translated out of Douche and Latin into Englische
Miles Coverdale, 1535
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin nequient-, nequiens, present participle of nequire (to be unable)
EXAMPLE
I am, and probably always will be, nequient in the musical arts.
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin novus (new) + antique
EXAMPLE
“…yet as they will not counterbalance the weight of those other arguments that militate on the contrary side, so they will without any difficulty be answered by the assertors of this Novantique philosophy…”
From: Treatise Concerning Eternal and Immutable Morality
By Ralph Cudworth, a1688
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin nimius (excessive),
from nimis (too much) + -ous
EXAMPLE
“…That is trew, and be possybilyte;
therfor of my deth shew yow I wyll.
My fathyr, of nemyows charyte,
sent me, his son), to make redemcyon),
wyche was conseyvyd be puer verginyte…”
From: The Digby Mysteries
Mary Magdalene. c1500
ETYMOLOGY
from nose + hole
EXAMPLE
“…Whan a bodi is stinged of an Adder than shall the woūde be wasshed ther with and clowtes wet layd ther vpō I Cotton wet in the same water & put in the nose holes is good agaynst Polippus that is stynkinge flesshe in the nose…”
From: The vertuose boke of distyllacyon of the waters of all maner of herbes
By Hieronymus Brunschwig
Translated by Laurence Andrewe, 1527
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin novercalis (characteristic of a stepmother),
from noverca stepmother + -ālis (-al)
EXAMPLE
“…But Fortune that lends her smiles as Exctors do mony, to undoe the Debtor, soone cald for the Principall and Interest from this Prince, to whom she was meerly Novercall, and he might well call her with the expert Heros …”
From: The History of the Life and Reigne of Richard the Third
By Sir George Buck, 1646
ETYMOLOGY
from ninny (a simpleton, a fool) + broth (liquid in which anything has been boiled)
EXAMPLE
“…How to make coffee, alias ninny-broth: a new invention of buttering turneps: to make a loaf of bread to dance about the table, intermixed with profit and delight …”
From: Poor Robin,
By William Winstanley, 1694
Lexicophilia 