gmasin has adopted no words, looked up 0 words, created 0 lists, listed 0 words, written 1 comment, added 0 tags, and loved 0 words.
gmasin has adopted no words, looked up 0 words, created 0 lists, listed 0 words, written 1 comment, added 0 tags, and loved 0 words.
Comments by gmasin
GMasin commented on the word eftest
Two things to keep in mind to help identify the etymology of this word. First, the character Dogberry is comical character who is also a pedant who frequently uses malapropisms. Second, the English language was changing from Middle English to Modern English during this period and indubitably the pedants of the time were "correcting" Modern English usages that trampled on Middle English conventions. So, if someone wanted to say "most old" and used "oldest", the pendants probably were upset that the "correct" strong form, "eldest", was not being used. If Shakespeare wanted to spoof this tendency of pedants during that time to insist that the only correct superlative of "old" was "eldest", then what comical superlative would he give for "oft"? Since its usage was intended as a comical malapropism, that also explains why the word has never been found anywhere else.
July 19, 2014