[Ads-l] "old boy" = the devil, 1692; antedates OED3 [1737], 1782

Flourish Klink flourish.klink at GMAIL.COM
Thu Sep 15 03:30:42 UTC 2016


I read it as a strange doubling of the initial "i" (here typed lowercase to
be clear). "One-idea" is a charming idea, as well!

I have to admit, I'm a little sorry you took out the long S.

On Wed, Sep 14, 2016 at 8:20 PM Joel Berson <berson at att.net> wrote:

> Well, I have to use the original spelling.  Be grateful that I have
> disambiguated long s (which this 1867 publication still used) from f.  I
> apologize for the sans serif font, which obscures the li.  Or would you
> have read the name as "one-idea"?
>
>
> Joel
>
>
>       From: Flourish Klink <flourish.klink at GMAIL.COM>
>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>  Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2016 11:10 PM
>  Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "old boy" = the devil, 1692; antedates OED3 [1737],
> 1782
>
> It took me far too long to make out that "lidea" was Lydia, not Idea.
>
> Idea would be a lovely name for a young woman. Almost as good as Flourish.
>
> On Wed, Sep 14, 2016 at 8:05 PM Joel Berson <berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> > "lidea Nichals aged about 17 years testifieth and saith that about a
> yeare
> > & halfe agoe I asked abigaille hobs how she darst lie out a nights in ye
> > woods alone she told me she was not a fraid of any thing for she told me
> > she had sold herselfe boddy & soule to ye old boy."
> >
> > Records of Salem Witchcraft, copied from the Original Documents.  Vol. 1.
> > Privately printed for W. Elliot Woodward, Roxbury, Mass., 1864.  Page
> 177.
> > Google Books, full view.
> >
> > Deposition assuredly 1692, but I cannot determine the month and day.
> >
> >
> > Antedates OED3 "old boy" sense 4.  [1737], 1782--.
> >
> > Joel
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list