Tag: 1400 – 1499

Word of the Day: FURIBUND

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin furibundus (from furere = to rage); the earlier forms through French furibond

EXAMPLE
“… In sayeng the whiche wordes by eneas / dydo lokyng at one side torned hir eyen sodaynli wythout to speke neuer a worde / as a persone furybounde & furyous: and or euer that she coude saye ony thyng. …”

From: “The Boke yf Eneydos, compyled by Vyrgyle, which hathe be translated oute of latyne in to frenshe, and oute of frenshe reduced in to Englysshe by me Wyllm Caxton“
By William Caxton, 1490

Word of the Day: COMESTIBLE

ETYMOLOGY
from French comestible (edible), or from Latin comestibilis (fit to eat, edible);
from comest- variant of comes- past participial stem of comedere (to eat up, devour);
from com- (altogether) + edere (to eat)

EXAMPLE (for adj.)
“… And they mocked hym and said that he raued and was a foole and gaf no faith to his sayeng, and contynued in theyr synnne and wickednes. Thenne whan the Arcke was parfyghtly maad god bad hym to take in to it of all the beestis of therthe, and also of the fowles of thayer of eche two male and female, that they may lyue and also of all the metes of therthe that ben comestible, that they may serue and fede the and them. And Noe dyde all that our lord commanded hym. Thenne said our lord to Noe entre thou and all thy houshold in to the Arke, that is to saye thou and thy wyf and thy thre sones & theyr thre wiuys I haue seen that thou art rightful in this generacion. …”

From: Legenda aurea sanctorum, sive, Lombardica historia/The Golden Legend
By Jacobus de Voragine
Translated by William Caxton, 1483

Word of the Day: LOSENGE

ETYMOLOGY
from Old French losenger = Provencal lauzengar, Spanish lisonjar, Portuguese lisonjear, Italian lusingare; 
from Old French losenge, losange (flattery) = Provencal lauzenga, lauzenja, Spanish, 
Portuguese lisonja;
apparently adopted by the other Romance languages, from Provencal lauzenga = Old French loenge (French louange) (praise)
from medieval Latin laudemia, a derivative Latin laud-em (praise)

EXAMPLE
“… Thanne began Glaucus to call her and losenge her. …”

From: The Metamorphoses of Ovid 
Translated by William Caxton, 1480

Reverse Dictionary: RAMAGEOUS

ETYMOLOGY
apparently from ramage (of an animal: wild, untamed, unruly, violent) + ‑ous 

EXAMPLE
“… Ordeyned hath, by ful gret cruelte,
This Ram to kepe, bolys ful vnmylde,
With brasen feet, ramegous and wylde,
And ther-with-al ful fel and dispitous,
And of nature wood and furious,
To hurte and sleen euere of o desyre. …”

From: Troy Book
By Guido delle Colonne
Translated by John Lydgate, c1425

Word of the Day: PROME

ETYMOLOGY
from Old French prome, proesme, and Middle French proisme (near), also as (n.) a neighbour, from Latin proximus (nearest)

EXAMPLE
“… First sal ye luue god wid al yure herte and wid al yure saul and wid al yure uertu, And ti prome als ti-self; sua ah ye at do …”

From: Three Middle-English versions of the Rule of St. Benet, a1425
By Saint Benedict, Abbot of Monte Cassino.
Edited by Ernst Albin Kock
Early English Text Society edition, 1902

Word of the Day: OUTBRAID

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

Word of the Day: LEVEABLE

ETYMOLOGY
from leve (to believe, give credence to) + -able

EXAMPLE
“… Fower yomen leveable and discrete, prooved in that facultie of choosing, buyinge, and keepinge of all country wynes; thus everyche of them to pourvey by the Kinge’s commission, to be had by the Thesaurer of housholde’s record and seale, directed to the clerke of the crowne, to make suche commission for suche pourveyours, according to the statutes; …”

From: A Collection of Ordnances and Regulations 
for the Government of the Royal Household
From King Edward III to King William and Queen Mary
Also Receipts in Ancient Cookery
Printed 1790
Liber Niger Domus Regis Edw. IV., a1483

Word of the Day: BARRATOUS

ETYMOLOGY
from Old French barateus, from barat: masculine (= It. baratto, Old Spanish barato, Provencal barat), also Old French barate feminine (= Old Spanish, Catalan, Provencal barata) ‘deceit, fraud, confusion, trouble, embarrassment’ + -ous

EXAMPLE
“… For other Analyses he ouerpassed, as impertinent, or not specially materiall. After such examination of their autorities, and argumentes, not with a rigorous Censure of either, but with a fauorable Construction of both: Pardon him, though he presume to deliuer some part of his animaduersions in such termes, as the instant occasion presenteth: not for any contentious, or sinister purpose (the world is too-full of litigious, and barratous pennes) but for the satisfaction of those, that de∣sire them, & the aduertisement of those, that regard them. …”

From: Pierces Supererogation or A New Prayse of the Old Asse
By Gabriel Harvey, 1593

Word of the Day: GINNOUS

ETYMOLOGY
from gin (skill, ingenuity, obs.) + -ous

EXAMPLE
” …and man’s flesh is so savoury and so pleasant that when they have taken to man’s flesh they will never eat the flesh of other beasts, though they should die of hunger. For many men have seen them leave the sheep they have taken and eat the shepherd. It is a wonderfully wily and gynnous; beast, and more false than any other beast to take all advantage, for he will never fly but a little save when he has need, for he will always abide in his strength, and he hath good breath, for every day it is needful to him, for every man that seeth him chaseth him away and crieth after him …

From: The Master of Game
By Edward, second duke of York, a1425
(The oldest English book on hunting)
Edited by Wm. A. and F. Baillie-Grohman, 1909

Word of the Day: RUBICUND

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin rubicundus (ruddy, flushed, reddish, red), either from rubere (to be red) + ‑cundus, or from rubibundus (recorded in post-classical Latin as a rejected form; from rubere + ‑bundus (suffix forming verbal adjectives), with dissimilation of ‑b‑

EXAMPLE (for adj. 2.)
“… Accordyng vnto which rule this fyrst Namer hym selfe, foormed out of ruddy clay, and thearby endued with the purest of complexions (as we tearm them) Rubicund or Sanguine, had hym selfe first to name in the Hebru (the fyrst of langages) Adam. As his make beyng the onely wooman at her creation, counted moother and lyfe to all posteritie, and (for her breakyng the commaundment) the causer also of calamitie and wo, Adam named Eua. …”

From: The calender of Scripture VVhearin the Hebru, Challdian, Arabian, Phenician, Syrian, Persian, Greek and Latin names, of nations, cuntreys, men, weemen, idols, cities, hils, riuers, [and] of oother places in the holly Byble mentioned, by order of letters ar set, and turned into oour English toong.
By William Patten, 1575
The Printer Vnto the Gentle Reedar

PRONUNCIATION
ROO-bick-uhnd