Tag: 1500 – 1599

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

Word of the Day: MOLLITUDE

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin mollitudo, from mollis (soft) + -tudo (-tude)

EXAMPLE
“… Which, if you had otherwise expressed his sense rightlie, yet should you haue forborne to apply to yours for the observing of decorum, a thing that you commend so in Homer, and your selfe aime at: sith those maides and wooers, intended both by Homer and you, to be wantons, must vse lascivious danses; and the man (if you will needes haue such resemblances) bee compared rather to Mollitude, or Cowardnes, the woman to Incontinencie. …”

From: Th’overthrow of Stage-Playes, by the way of controversie betwixt D. Gager and D. Rainoldes
By John Rainolds, 1599

Word of the Day: HAIR-BUSH

ETYMOLOGY
from hair + bush

EXAMPLE
“… His crisp locks frizeling, his temples prittelye stroaking.
Heer with al in trembling with speede wee ruffled his hearebush,
With water attempting thee flame too mortifye sacred.
But father Anchises, mounting his sight to the skyward,
Both the hands vplifting, hertly thus his orison vttred. …”

From: Thee first foure bookes of Virgil his Aeneis
Translated intoo English heroical verse by Richard Stanyhurst, 1582

Word of the Day: DISCREPATE

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin discrepat-, past participial stem of discrepare (to differ in sound, to be out of tune, to be out of harmony or inconsistent with, to have differences or discrepancies, to lack agreement, to differ in opinion, to disagree,
from dis- + crepare (to make a noise, to creak)

EXAMPLE (for vb. 1.)
“… So that discrepating from his first propertie, vtterly corrupteth, decayeth, becommeth absumpt in the degree of death. …”

From: The Flower of Phisicke
By William Clever, 1590

Word of the Day: CONDOG

ETYMOLOGY
conjectured to be a whimsical imitation of concur (cur = dog);
but no evidence has been found of its actual origin

EXAMPLE
“… Alcum. So is it, and often doth it happen, that the iust proportion of the fire and all things concurre.

Rafe. Concurre, condogge. I will away.

Alcum. Then away. …”

From: Gallathea
By John Lyly, 1592

Word of the Day: DETRACTORY

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin detractorius (disparaging, slanderous), from detractor (a defamer, slanderer) + -ory

EXAMPLE
“… Let him say al this, and much more, which idle and slothfull Christians are accustomed to bring for their excuse: let him alleage the same as much and as often times as he wil: it is but an excuse, and a false excuse, and an excuse moste dishonourable and detractorie to the force of Christ holie grace purchased vnto vs by his bitter passion …”

From: A Christian Directorie guiding men to their saluation
By Robert Parsons, 1585

Word of the Day: CHITTY

ETYMOLOGY
adj. 1.: from chit (a freckle or wart, obsolete) + -y
adj. 2. & 3..: apparently deduced from chitty-face, (thin face), but afterwards associated with chit (the young of a beast)
n. 1.:  from Hindi chiṭṭhi, Marathi chitthi, chithi and its cognate
Hindi ciṭṭhi (document, letter, note, promissory note, pass), of uncertain origin

EXAMPLE (for adj. 1.)
“… How shall I stifle now my rising Phlegm,
Are all, are all his Thoughts employ’d on them
Shall they such Chitty Jades so happy be,
And can he not bestow one word on me;
Hence from my Sight, avoid this wicked Room,
Go you ungracious Minxes, get you home. …”

From: The Rival Milliners: or, the Humours of Covent Garden
A Tragi-Comi-Operatic-Pastoral Farce
By Robert Drury, 1737

Word of the Day: MALDISANT

ETYMOLOGY
from French maldisant (evil speaker), use as noun of present participle of maldire, maudire (to speak evil), from maledicere; from male (badly) + dicere (to speak, say)

EXAMPLE
“… He is to blame (faith Martiall, and further he brandes him with a knavish name) that will be wittie in another mans booke. How then will scoffing readers scape this marke of a maledizant? whose wits have no other worke, nor better worth then to flout, and fall out?…”

From: A Worlde of Wordes, or, Most Copious, and Exact Dictionarie in Italian and English
Collected by John Florio, 1598

Word of the Day: GENETRIX

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin genetrix, genitrix (female parent, mother; originator, creator),
from gen- stem of gignere (to beget, give birth)

EXAMPLE
“… The roundelayes, and charming lullabies,
That my indulgent genetrix did warble?
What are my braines grown dry, or my bloud cold?
Or am I on a sudden waxen old?
I thought, though Cupids aire-deviding shaft,
Soone penetrated the well tempered
Corslet: which the hot-halting god of fire,
Made for his boysterous rivall, it should not find,
Or make a way to vulnerate my mind. …”

From: Εροτοπαιγνιον (Erotopaignion), or, The Cyprian Academy
By Robert Baron, 1647

Word of the Day: DANDILLY

ETYMOLOGY
apparently a derivative of dandle (to move (a child, etc.) lightly up and down in the arms or on the knee)

EXAMPLE
“… I wes in youthe, on nureice kne,
Cald dandillie, bischop, dandillie,
And quhone that age now dois me greif,
A sempill vicar I can nocht be:
Exces of thocht dois me mischief. …”

From: Dunbar: A Critical Exposition of the Poems
By Tom Scott, 1965
Don is a Battell on the Dragon Blak
Composed by William Dunbar, a1513