Fwd: Smalls
I. Marc Carlson
IMC at vax2.utulsa.edu
Thu Nov 30 12:13:08 PST 1995
<moondrgn at bga.com (Chris and Elisabeth Zakes)>
>What does the dictionary (preferably the OED) say about "children"?
>Especially when it was first used?...
Easy.
(I've broken this reply into two messages, the first about children)
The following quotes have been extracted from the OED 2d ed (on CD)
Diarmuit
=========================
Children, plural of child.
[Note: for the oddly placed capitol D's read a Thorn]
Child, n. Pl. children. [OE. cild neut.:---OTeut. type *kilDom
(OE. -ld from OTeut. -lD) from root *kilD-, whence also Goth.
kilDei womb, inkilDô pregnant woman. Not found elsewhere: in the
other WGer. langs. its place is taken by "Kind". As the form of
OHG., OS., OFris. kind is not satisfactorily explained from the
root ken- (Aryan gen-) "beget, bear", and is, for LG. at least,
quite irregular, Prof. Sievers suggests the possibility that kind
is a perversion of cild, kilD-, by assimilation to the derivatives
of root ken-, which may have spread from OHG. to OS. and Fris.
The OE. plural was normally cild; but in late OE. the word was
partly assimilated to the neuter -os stems, making nom. pl. cildru,
-ra, and esp. gen. pl. cildra. Ælfric, Grammar 23, gives nom. cild,
gen. cildra, dat. cildum; but he also has nom. cildru (e.g. Hom.
II. 324). No r forms occur in the earlier Vesp. Psalter nor in
Northumbrian. The latter had cild and cildo; and sometimes made the
word masc. with pl. cildas. In ME. there are rare instances of
chyld, childe as plural; but the surviving type was OE. cildru,
cildra, which gave ME. childre, childer: this was the regular
northern and north midland form, and is still used in the dialects
as far south as Shropsh., Leicester, and Lincolnsh. But in the
south this was made childer-en, childre-n by conformation to the
-en plurals: cf. brethre, brether, brethren, plurals of brother.
This has become the standard and literary form. The Old
Northumbrian cildas is paralleled by childes in 15th c., which is
exceptional; but the Sc. differentiated word chield has always
chields in plural.]
A. Illustration of the plural forms. (deleted)
B. Signification.
I. With reference to state or age.
1. a. The unborn or newly born human being; foetus,
infant. App. originally always used in relation to
the mother as the "fruit of the womb". When the
application was subsequently extended, the
primitive sense was often expressed by babe, baby,
infant; but "child" is still the proper term, and
retained in phrases, as "with child", "to have a
child", "child-birth", the verb to child, etc.
(from at least 950)
b. spec. A female infant, a girl-baby. dial. (from
1611)
2. a. A young person of either sex below the age of
puberty; a boy or girl. A gradual extension of
sense 1. (From 1000).
b. In the Bible, as rendering Heb. yeled "child",
"bairn", extended to youths approaching or entering
upon manhood. (from 1382)
3. a. transf. One who has (or is considered to have)
the character, manners, or attainments of a child;
esp. a person of immature experience or judgement;
a childish person. (See also 20.) (from 1250)
b. In contemptuous or affectionate address. (from
1590)
4. a. Formerly applied to all pupils at school, esp.
to those at charity schools. (from 1200)
b. spec. A singing boy or chorister. Still retained
at the Chapel Royal, St. James's. (from 1510)
5. A youth of gentle birth: used in ballads, and the
like, as a kind of title. arch. When used by modern
writers, commonly archaically spelt chylde or
childe, for distinction"s sake. The precise force
with which cild was used in OE. is not certain: Mr.
Freeman (Norm. Conq. I. v. 374 note) merely
concludes that "it is clear that it was a title of
dignity". In 13th and 14th c. "child" appears to
have been applied to a young noble awaiting
knighthood: e.g. in the romances of Ipomydon, Sir
Tryamour, Torrent of Portugal, etc. (from 1016)
6. A lad or _boy" in service; a page, attendant, etc.
Cf. also child-woman in 22. Obs. (from 1382)
7. a. Used familiarly or contemptuously for _lad";
_fellow", _chap", _man." Obs.; but cf. Sc. chield.
(from 1551)
b. In U.S., esp. among Blacks, "this child" is used
jocularly in speaking of oneself. (1850)
II. As correlative to parent.
8. a. The offspring, male or female, of human parents;
a son or daughter. This in OE. was expressed by
bearn, bairn. (1175)
b. It has been pointed out that child or my child
is by parents used more frequently (and longer) of,
and to, a girl than a boy. Shakspere nowhere uses
"my child" of or to a son, but frequently of or to
a daughter. This is possibly connected with the
use in 1 b; but is perhaps more due to the facts
that girl has a wider range of application than
boy, and that a daughter is more dependent on
parental protection. (from 1599)
c. The young of an animal. (rare.) (from 1590)
9. pl. In Biblical and derived uses: Descendants; members
of the tribe or clan. (from 1325)
10. Theol. Child of God: i.e. by creation, or by
regeneration and adoption. (from 1200)
11. Applied (chiefly in pl.) to disciples of a teacher
and those in a similar relation. (Chiefly Biblical.)
(from 1325)
12. fig. One of the spiritual or moral progeny of a
person; one who inherits his spirit and hands down the
tradition of his influence. (from 1382)
13. fig. Expressing origin, extraction, dependence,
attachment, or natural relation to a place, time, event,
circumstance of birth, ruling or characteristic quality.
Orig. a Hebraism of Scripture transl.; e.g. children of
the East, of the world, of the kingdom; of light, of
darkness, of the day, of wrath, of disobedience, of sin,
of murder, of death; of wisdom, of folly, of truth, of
fancy; of nature, of fashion, of the age, of the time, of
the century; of adultery, of shame; of tears, of sorrow,
of prayers, etc., etc. (from 1380)
14. fig. That which originates from, or is produced by,
something else; the "offspring" of. (from 1592)
III. 15. Child-bearing. Obs. [? elliptical, or f. the vb.]
(from 1300) "Sco was at hir time o child."
IV. Phrases and Proverbs.
16. from (of) a child or children (of a child little):
from childhood. (from 1526)
17. with child:
a. lit. Pregnant. Hence to get (beget obs.) with
child; to go with child. (from 1175)
b. transf. of ground, trees, ships with swelling
sails. Obs. (from 1420)
c. fig.
(a) Full (of a thing) so as to be ready to
burst with it; teeming, pregnant; = big a. 5
(b) Eager, longing, yearning (to do a thing).
Obs. (c1548)
18. child's play (child's game, childer game, childer
spell):
a. lit. play befitting a child, childish sport;
b. fig. a piece of work easily accomplished,
trivial matter, trifle. (c1325)
19. child's part (also in pl. childer-parts): child's
portion or share of inheritance. Obs. (1509-)
20. In proverbs and proverbial phrases, as the burnt
child dreads the fire (burnt 3 b); the child unborn, as
type of innocence or ignorance, etc. (c 1400-)
V. Combinations.
21. General combs. (19th Century on)
a. appositive, as child-angel, -girl, -heroine,
-king, -man, -mother, -noble, -prince, -saint,
-sweetheart, -virgin, etc.;
b. attributive, as child-cheek, -kind, -labour,
-literature, -nature, -sacrifice, -smile, -spirit,
-suffering, -world, etc.;
c. objective:
(a) direct, as child-eater, -eating adj.,
-killer, -killing, -lover, -loving adj.,
-murder, -murderer, -stealer, etc.;
(b) indirect, as child-bereft adj.;
d. similative, as child-simple adj., etc., etc.
Youth.
1. a. The fact or state of being young; youngness.
(Often blending with sense 2.) (from 1100)
b. fig. Newness, novelty, recentness. (from 1596)
2. a. The time when one is young; the early part or
period of life; more specifically, the period from
puberty till the attainment of full growth, between
childhood and adult age. (From 897)
3. A quality or condition characteristic of the young;
e.g. youthful freshness or vigour; youthful
wantonness, folly, or rashness; youthful appearance
or aspect. (from 971)
4. Personified, or vaguely denoting any young person
or persons (without article). Here perhaps belongs
yougthes folke (Spenser Sheph. Cal. May 9), which
was imitated by Davison (see youngth 1, quot.
1602). (from 1390)
5. Young people (or creatures) collectively; the
young. (With or without the; now always construed
as plural.) (from Beowulf)
6. a. A young person; esp. a young man between boyhood
and mature age; sometimes, esp. in earlier use,
more widely (see quots.). Formerly sometimes (and
still in dialect or vulgar speech) pleonastically
qualified by young. (from 1250)
b. (esp. college youth.) Applied technically to
societies of bellringers. Obs. exc. Hist. (from
1668)
7. attrib. and Comb., as youth cult, culture, -day,
-group, movement, organization, -slip, -state, -tide,
-time; youth-bold, -consuming adjs.; youth-bereft,
-charmed, -oriented ppl. adjs; [etc. deleted]
Young, a. (n.1)
A. adj.
1. That has lived a relatively short time; that is in the
early stage of life or growth; youthful: opp. to old a.
1.
a. of persons. not so young as (one) was (or used
to be): getting old, advanced in years (colloq.,
often jocular). (from Beowulf)
b. (a) In collocations of specific meaning, as
young creature, young folk(s, young fry, young
master, young people, young person, young
thing: see the ns. creature 3, folk 3, 4, fry1
4 b, master n.1 23, people 6 b, person 2 e,
thing1 10, and quots. below. young one: _a
young person; (usually with poss.) offspring,
pl. young ones, offspring, progeny; = B. 2;
also in colloq. form young 'un, youngun =
youngster. See also young lady, young man,
young woman, and C. below. Certain
collocations, e.g. young man, gentleman,
woman, lady, are colloq. used vocatively in
addressing reproof or warning to persons of
almost any age. (from 1297)
(b) Such collocations may be used attrib. or
as adj., may be converted into verbs, or may
take a suffix; e.g. young-girl adj.
(pertaining to a young girl), hence
young-girlish adj., -girlishly adv.;
young-master vb. (to address or treat as a
young master); young-gentlemanly adj.
(pertaining to or characteristic of a young
gentleman). (From 1613)
c. Used to distinguish the younger of two persons
of the same name or title in a family (esp. a son
from his father); equivalent to junior. (from 1340)
2. transf. Belonging or pertaining to a young person or
persons, or to youth.
a. with age, days, years, etc.: the age or time
when one is young; youth. Obs. exc. in young days.
(from 1000)
Babe
[Prob. a contraction of baban; cf. Tom, Will, Gib, Hugh, and
similar pet-names. Now superseded in ordinary use by its own
diminutive baby (cf. Tommy, Willie, etc.), and retained chiefly as
a literary and poetic word. Babe, and not baby, is used in the
Bible.]
1. An infant, a young child. Phr. babe in arms. (from
1393)
2. (deleted)
3. a. fig. A childish person; = baby n. 5. babes in
Christ: newly-made converts to Christianity. Also, an
inexperienced or guileless person; so babes in the wood
(with overt or implied reference to the old ballad The
Children in the Wood). (1526-)
Bairn
[Common Teutonic: OE. bearn = OFris. bern, OS., OHG., MHG., Goth.,
ON., Da., Sw. barn, (MDu. baren):---OTeut. *barno-(m), f. beran to
bear. Lost in G. and Du.; also in southern Eng., where the modern
repr. of OE. bearn would have been bern (cf. fern) or barn (cf.
arm, warn). In fact, berne survived in the south to 1300, barn
still survives in northern English, and was used by Shakspere;
bairn is the Scotch form (cf. fairn, airm, wairn), occasionally
used in literary English since 1700. It is doubtful whether the
berne, bearn of some 17th c. Eng. writers was a survival of the
early southern form, or a variant spelling of bairn. The pl. bærn
in Ormin is the ON. börn, hence it is probable that the northern
singular barn is as much of ON. as of OE. origin.]
A child; a son or daughter. (Expressing relationship, rather than
age.) (From Beowulf)
More information about the Ansteorra
mailing list