deracinate

RonButters at AOL.COM RonButters at AOL.COM
Thu Nov 18 19:41:12 UTC 2004


According to the OED, the word DERACINATE was apparently coined by
Shakespeare, who used it first in Henry V, v,ii, 47. I say the bard borrowed it directly
from French; my colleague George Williams, who is working on the Variorium
Shakespeare, seems surprised that Shakespeare did not borrow the Latin form,
which would be DERAXINATE. I will leave it to the Shakespeareans to figure out
which is most likely from the point of view of the bard's mind and track record.
But what   am wondering is as follows:

1. Does anyone have an antedating to the 1599 Shakespeare quote?
2. Does DERAXINATE feel as unlikely to ADS-ers as it does to me?

I realize that this is not an AMERICAN English question, but then Shakespeare
was really an American, wasn't he? Just born in the wrong palce?



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