Tag: 1400 – 1499

Word of the Day: MOSTWHAT

ETYMOLOGY
from most (greatest in size, bulk, etc.) + what (pronoun); probably after somewhat (adv.)

EXAMPLE (for adv. 2.)
“…  The parentes and freindes with whom I haue to deale, be mostwhat no latinistes: and if they were, yet we vnderstand that tounge best, whervnto we are first borne, as our first impression is alwaie in English, before we do deliuer it in Latin. …”

From: Positions vvherin those primitiue circumstances be examined, which are necessarie for the training vp of children, either for skill in their booke, or health in their bodie,
By Richard Mulcaster, 1581

Word of the Day: PLEASURANCE

ETYMOLOGY
from pleasure (vb.) + -ance

EXAMPLE
“… With a mighty noise, noye for to here,
Playnond with pytie, no pleasurance at all,
With sykyng & sorow said on this wise:—
“A! fonnet folke, why fare ye thus now,
With solas full sore, and sanges of myrthe,
At the weddyng of the weghes, þat shall to wo turne. …”

From: The “Gest Hystoriale” of the Destruction of Troy
from Guido de Colonna’s “Hystoria troiana.”, a1400

PRONUNCIATION
PLEZH-uh-ruhns

Word of the Day: DISTROUBLE

ETYMOLOGY
Middle English from Old French destrobler, ‑troubler, from des-, Latin dis- + trobler, troubler (to trouble)

EXAMPLE
“… Debonairly, and nothing loude,
He sayde, `I prey thee, be not wrooth,
I herde thee not, to sayn the sooth,
Ne I saw thee not, sir, trewely.’
`A! goode sir, no fors,’ quod I,
`I am right sory if I have ought
Destroubled yow out of your thought;
Foryive me if I have mistake.’
`Yis, th’amendes is light to make,’
Quod he, `for ther lyth noon ther-to;
Ther is nothing missayd nor do,’
Lo! how goodly spak this knight,
As it had been another wight; …”

From: The Book of the Duchesse
By Geoffrey Chaucer, c1369

Word of the Day: MALEUROUS

ETYMOLOGY
from middle French maleureus, maleureux, modern French malheureux (unfortunate, unhappy, wretched; from maleur (ill fortune, misfortune) + ‑eus (‑ous) 

EXAMPLE
“…And seithe: “O,” seith he, “tho people bene passinge evreux whan there is a kinge of goode dis
crecioun and of goode counseill and wise in sciencez. And gretly bene the people malevreux whanne any of thise thingis abovesaide fauten in a kinge.”…”

From: Translation of The Dicts and Sayings of the Philosophers, a1661
By Curt Ferdinand Buhler, Early English Text Society, 1941

Word of the Day: SHITTLE-WITTED

ETYMOLOGY
from shittle (obsolete, fickle, flighty, inconstant) + witted

EXAMPLE
“… I am aferd þat Jon of Sparham js so schyttyl-wyttyd þat he wyl sett hys gode to morgage to Heydon, or to sum oþer of vwre gode frendys, but jf I can hold hym jnne þe better ere ȝe kom hom…”

From: Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century
Margaret Paston to Jon Paston, 1448

Word of the Day: ADDULCE

ETYMOLOGY
originally from Middle French adoulcir, also written addoulcir; (mod. adoucir) (to sweeten):
—late Latin addulcire; from ad (to) + dulcis (sweet); subsequently refashioned after Latin

EXAMPLE
“…And thenne shalle not the Rigour and the reffuse of my noble lady be myned and adoulced by my habondaunt prayers and oroisons. yes verily. that shall she be or nature shall faylle. And if not the goddes shall be iniuste and agaynst me…”

From: The History of Jason
By Raoul Le Fevre
Translated by William Caxton, 1477

PRONUNCIATION
uh-DULS

Word of the Day: CRUDELITY

ETYMOLOGY
from French crudelité, from Latin crudelitas (cruelty), from crudelis (cruel)

EXAMPLE
“…The thyrd synne is vnmyserycorde and crudelyte For he whyche playeth wold fayne take from his felowe bothe breche and sherte the whiche thynge the theuys whyche dyspoyle and robbe the pylgrymes doon not…”

From: Here begynneth the prologue or prohemye of the book callid Caton
Translated by William Caxton, 1483

Word of the Day: HOLE-CREEPER

ETYMOLOGY
from hole (n.) + creeper (n.)

EXAMPLE
“…He qualified himself as to the good eating which the statute requires, by ‘hole-creeping’ after his neighbours’ geese and pigs – est communis holecreppar anserum et porcellorum tenentium – and as to the good drinking, we have seen the clandestine but thrice-abundant provision which he made for that. …”

(est communis holecreppar anserum et porcellorum tenentium = is a common hole-creeper of geese and piglets)

From: The Quarterly Review
Vol. XCII. Published in December, 1852, and March 1853
No. CLXXXIV. History of the Ancient Barony Castle Combe in the County of Wilts,
By George Poulett Scrope, 1462

Word of the Day: SPLENDIDIOUS

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin splendidus (bright, glittering, splendid) + -ious

EXAMPLE
“…Of whom Gregorius Naz[i]anzen spekethe, seyenge, “Suche men reprove liȝhtely straunge thinges, but vnnethe with grete difficulte thei folowe goode thynges.” Wherefore y seenge the poverte and insufficience of my connynge after so splendidious laboures dredde to proferre a raw thynge with bareyne eloquence and to purpose as a thynge bytter to so mellifluous delices….”

From: Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden maonachi Cestrensis
By Ranulf Higden 
Translated by John Trevisa, a1475

Word of the Day: LIMOUS

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin limosus, from limus (mud, slime)

EXAMPLE
“…This doon, the sydes make up with structure,
And footes VIII it hold in latitude.
With barres bigge is goode to make it sure ;
Or wall it well with ragge or flyntes rude.
In square or round this werk thai may conclude.
If water ther be lymous or enfecte
Admyxtion of salt wol it correcte. …”

(Make it eight feet wide and secure it with courses of wood, the walls being of ragstone or flint. A mixture of salt will correct muddiness.)

From: Palladius on Husbondrie: from the unique MS. of about 1420 A.D. in Colchester Castle