Yclept

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Dr. Goodword
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Yclept

Postby Dr. Goodword » Mon Sep 13, 2021 7:55 pm

• yclept •


Pronunciation: i-klept Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: (Archaic) By the name of, named, called, known as.

Notes: In our historical readings, we might bump into this word spelled ycleped. It was originally the past participle of the equally archaic verb clepe, from Old English clipian. However, ignorance of the function of the prefix y- led to many writers assuming the underlying verb is yclepe.

In Play: The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) contains examples up to 1900, but Michael Quinion (RIP) found an example as late as 1997 in the Jerusalem Post: "The caption under the photo of the unfortunately yclept basketball player just makes matters worse: 'David Putz dribbles away. . .'."

Word History: Today's Good Word is a holdover from Middle English, which was in Old English geclypod, the past participle of clypian "to call, name". The prefix ge- is still used as a past participle indicator in Modern German: geben "to give" : gegeben "given", sprechen "to speak" : gesprochen "spoken". The prefix comes from the same source as Latin cum and com- "(together) with", Proto-Indo-European kom "beside, by, with". English borrowed scads of words from Latin beginning with assimilated and unassimilated forms of com-: comment, contain, correct and collect. The PIE word was also the origin of Greek koinos "common" and the Russian prefix s(o)- "coming together from all directions", from Proto-Slavic s"n-. According to the OED, this is a much-affected literary archaism adopted by Elizabethan and subsequent poets. In less dignified writing it was often used for the sake of quaintness or the result of humorous intent.
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Philip Hudson
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Re: Yclept

Postby Philip Hudson » Tue Sep 14, 2021 12:15 am

I like this word. I have known it a long time. I have never read it except in a discussion of said word. It is not in my active vocabulary of any degree. I never intend to use it under any circumstance. But when I lean back satisfied with the mere knowing of it, a warm feeling comes over me. Perhaps I am ycelpt a dummkopf. But it keeps me happy here in the hinterlands.
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Slava
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Re: Yclept

Postby Slava » Tue Sep 14, 2021 6:19 am

For a later usage date, check out page 85 of "Self and Society in the Films of Robert Wise". It was published in 2010.
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damoge
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Re: Yclept

Postby damoge » Tue Sep 14, 2021 2:06 pm

Does this mean that "y" as a prefix is a descendant, or relative, of "ge"?
And both are related to "com" (col, con etc etc etc)?
Everything works out, one way or another


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