ETYMOLOGY
? aphetic from defamation (n.)
EXAMPLE 1
“…Ich wile þat y ben hanged & drawe
Boute y defende me wiþ þe lawe
Of þis famacioun,
Þat þow seist y scholde selle
Me lordes sone þat ich of telle,
Þat men clepede Reinbroun …”
From: The Romance of Guy of Warwick
The first or 14th-century version, c1325
EXAMPLE 2
The well-known actor brought a legal action against the magazine for famation of character.
ETYMOLOGY
from weal (well-being, Old English wela [wealth], in late Old English also welfare, well-being), + –some
EXAMPLE
“…I preisede more the deade than the liuende; and I demede hym welsumere than either, that ȝit is not born …”
From: The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, with the Apocryphal books
(Wycliffite, early version), a1382
Edited by Josiah Forshall and Frederic Madden. 1850
ETYMOLOGY
from Latin dulcarnon Pythagoras’ theorem
from Arabic ḏu’l-qarnayn (two-horned, lit. ‘possessor of the two horns’)
from ḏu (lord, possessor) + al (the) + qarnayn, dual of qarn (horn)
EXAMPLES
“…Criseyde answerde, :As wisly God at reste
My soule bringe, as me is for hym wo!
If that ich hadde grace to do so.
And eem, y-wis, fayn wolde I doon the beste,
But whether that ye dwelle or for him go,
I am, til God me bettre mynde sende,
At dulcarnoun, right at my wittes ende…”
From: Letter from Mrs. M. Roper in Thomas More’s Works, 1441
“…Siva holds the drums of creation in one hand and the fires of destruction in the other—an either/or dulcarnon from which there seems no escape…”
From: A Wake Newslitter
December, 1974
ETYMOLOGY
from leasing (lying, falsehood) + monger (a dealer, trader, or trafficker in a commodity
EXAMPLE
“…here abitis ben ful of lesyngis & þei ben but feyned & peyntid men of religion, & not only lesyngmongeris but pure lesyngis…”
From: The English works of Wyclif
c1380
ETYMOLOGY
from wight (strong and courageous, esp. in warfare) + -ling (with the sense a person belonging to or concerned with)
EXAMPLE
“…Now, wiþ outen more dueling,
Galathin com swiþe flinge
Wiþ þre þousand wiȝtling
& smot oȝain þat heþen king…”
From: Arthour and Merlin;
an anonymous Middle English verse romance giving an account of the reigns of Vortigern and Uther Pendragon and the early years of King Arthur’s reign, c1330
ETYMOLOGY
from little + what
EXAMPLE
“…Philip answeride to him, The looues of two hundrid pens suffysen not to hem, that ech man take a litle what…”
From: The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, with the Apocryphal books, in the earliest English versions made from the Latin Vulgate
(Wycliffite, early version), c1384
ETYMOLOGY
aphetic formed on avouter (an adulterer, esp. a male one);
in its oldest form from Old French avoutre, aoutre
EXAMPLE
“…For in þis werlde is no doge for þe bowe
þat knowe an hurt dere fro an holde bet cowe
þan þis Somenour knewe a licour
Or a vouter or elles a paramour
And for þat was þe fruyte of al þe rente
Ther-for on it he set al his entente…”
From: The Lansdowne Manuscript of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales,
Geoffrey Chaucer, c1386
ETYMOLOGY
from sleight (adroitness, nimbleness of mind or body) + -ful
EXAMPLE
“…Not worschipe men for here worldly rychesse. as þe fals world doþ
for þey be mysdoers, sotel, and slyhtful dysseyuers…”
From: The Lay Folks’ Catechism
(Lambeth MS.). 1380
ETYMOLOGY
from spill- (comb. form in the sense spoilt) + time
EXAMPLE
“…That fynden þe þy fode? for an ydel man þow semest,
A spendour þat spende mot oþer a spille-tyme,
Oþer beggest þy bylyue a-boute at menne hacches,
Oþer faitest vp-on frydays · oþer feste-dayes in churches…”
From: The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman
By William Langland, 1393
ETYMOLOGY
from oil + berry
EXAMPLE
“…And þer ſhal ben laft in it as þe braunche of a cluſter, and as þe ſhaking out of þe oile berie, as of two or of þre olyues in þe cop of þe braunch…”
From: Bible (Wycliffe, early version), a1382
Lexicophilia 