Ouphe

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Grogie
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Ouphe

Postby Grogie » Tue Oct 19, 2021 8:13 pm

A goblin. ''All the children were dressed as ouphes for the Halloween party.''

David Myer
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Re: Ouphe

Postby David Myer » Fri Oct 22, 2021 6:15 am

Well, a new one on me. But should the plural be ouves?

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Slava
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Re: Ouphe

Postby Slava » Fri Oct 22, 2021 6:31 am

Shipley's Dictionary of Early English has this:
ouph. This word probably originated in
a typographical error: ouph instead of
auph, oph, oaph, variants of oaf. The
word first occurs in the 1623 edition of
Shakespeare, in THE MERRY WIVES OF
WINDSOR: We'll dress like urchins, ouphes,
and fairies, green and white. The form
was copied by later writers; naturally by
Chatterton: Ouph and fairy, light your
fires, and by Swinburne in TRISTRAM OF
LYONESSE (1882) : Or how shall I trust
more than ouphe or elf Thy truth to meward,
who beliest thyself?
Oaf, which was earlier auf, meant at
first the child of an elf; especially, one
substituted for a human child borne
away by the elves or fairies, a changeling;
hence, a deformed or half-wit child; a
fool, a booby. Steele in THE TATLER, No.
248 (1710) speaks of marriages between
the most accomplished women and the
veriest oafs. The plural was also used in
the form oaves. The expression oaf-rocked
('rocked* in the cradle) meant fool-born;
either a booby from birth, or spoiled by
over-indulgence from the start. The earlier
form, auf,, is related to Old Norman alfr,
fairy, whence English elf; but the auf
and the oaf are always the fairy's child,
the changeling. And any babe stupid or
deformed is obviously a changelingl
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.


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