ETYMOLOGY
from womb (the abdomen or abdominal cavity of a person or animal; the belly, obs.) + joy
EXAMPLE
“… for bischopis, munkis & chanons sillen þe perfeccion of cristis pouert & his apostlis, & also trewe prechynge for a litil stynkyng muk or drit, & worldli lordschipe, & wombe ioie and idelnesse …”
From: The English Works of Wyclif hitherto unprinted
By John Wyclif, c1430
Edited by Frederic David Matthew, 1880
ETYMOLOGY
from Old Norse svangr, related to svangi (swange, groin), from swaŋgw-, perhaps identical with swaŋgw-, grade-variant of swiŋgw- (to swing – to scourge, whip, flog, beat)
EXAMPLE
“… Þe hungri in god he made stronge,
And þe riche he lette al swonge.
Þe folk of Israel haþ vndurfonge
Þe child þat heo abide longe; …”
From: The minor poems of the Vernon MS
Published for the Early English Text Society, 1892-1901
La estorie del Euangelie, a1300
ETYMOLOGY
vb. 1. 2. 4. from out- + braid (to make a sudden movement with the hand, etc.; to brandish a spear;. to deal a blow)
vb. 3. altered form of abraid (to reproach, to reprove)
EXAMPLE (for vb. 3.)
“… And for that this displeasour doth hym dere
His frende: he soone out-braydeth of the same
Hym-self (for malyce) drawynge by the here
So hath this fole by malyce and yll name
His rewarde lost for it rebuked and shame
And no meruayle: for no man that hath skyll
Shall thanke hym for goodnes done agaynst his wyll …”
From: The Shyp of Folys of the Worlde
By Alexander Barclay, 1509
ETYMOLOGY
aphetic form of Old French enfaunt, enfant (infant);
The shortened form has not been found in French, but Italian has the corresponding fante (boy, servant, foot-soldier), whence German fant
EXAMPLE
“… The eiȝt day the fawnt shal be circumcidid. …”
From: Bible (Wycliffite, early version) Leviticus 12:3
ETYMOLOGY
from Middle French abrevier, from Latin abbreviare (to abbreviate, to shorten)
EXAMPLE
“… Fyrst, diuide the denominator by hys numerator, and if anye number doe remaine, let your diuisor be diuided by the same number, and so you must continue vntyll you haue so diuided yt there may nothing remaine, then is it to be vnderstande, that your last diuisor (wherat you did ende, and that 0. did remaine after your last diuision) is the greatest number, by the which you must abreuiat, as you did in the laste example, but in case that your last diuisor be 1. it is a token that the same number can not be abreuied. Example, of 54/11 diuide 81. (which is the denominator) by 54. which is his numerator, and there resteth 27. then diuide 54. by 27. and there remaineth nothing, wherefore your last diuisor 27. is the number, by the which you must abreuiat 54/81 as in the last example is specifyed. …”
From: The Welspring of Sciences, which teacheth the perfecte worke and practise of arithmeticke both in vvhole numbers & fractions
By Humfrey Baker, 1564
The thirde Chapter treateth of abbreuiation of one great broken number into a lesser broken
ETYMOLOGY
representing Old English type líegestre, feminine agent-noun to leogan,
from lie (to tell a lie)
EXAMPLE
“… “Yif ich say ich hadde a hi-leman,
“That ich leighe meselue opon :
“Than ich worth of old and yong
“Be hold leighster and fals of tong.
“Yete me is best take mi chaunce,
“And sle me childe, and do penaunce. …”
From: Lai le Freine, c1325
in Metrical romances of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries: published from ancient manuscripts
By Henry William Weber, 1810
ETYMOLOGY
from ill + tongue + ‑ed
EXAMPLE
“… Man iltunged, ai spekand,
Noght righted sal be in land;
Vnrightwise man, at his endinge
Take sal him iuels in steruinge. …”
From: The Surtees Psalter
Rhymed Middle English psalter dating from 1250 to 1300
ETYMOLOGY
from gere (a wild and changeful mood; a sudden fit of passion or feeling) + -ful
EXAMPLE
“… Now vp, now doun, as boket in a welle
Right as the friday, soothly for to telle
Now it shyneth, now it reyneth faste
Right so,/kan geery Venus ouer caste
The hertes of hir folk, right as hir day
Is gereful, right so chaungeth she array
Selde is the friday, al the wowke ylike
Whan þat Arcite had songe, he gan to sike …”
From: The Ellesmere MS of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
By Geoffrey Chaucer, c1386
ETYMOLOGY
from two + tongued
EXAMPLE
“… Men sold to sinne offend my sight;
I hate the two-tongu’d Hypocrite:
Those who devise
Malicious lies,
And in their crimes delight. …”
From: A Paraphrase upon the Psalmes of David
By George Sandys, 1636
ETYMOLOGY
from Middle English belsyre,
from belfair (beautiful) (from Old French)
EXAMPLE
“… With those delicious Brooks, by whose immortall streames
Her greatnesse is begunne: so that our Riuers King,
When he his long Descent shall from his Bel-sires bring,
Must needs (Great Pastures Prince) deriue his stem by thee,
From kingly Cotswolds selfe, sprung of the third degree: …”
From: Poly-Olbion
By Michael Drayton, 1612
Lexicophilia 