deracinate

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>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?

1. No, but apparently the French verb dates from the 13th century.

2. A Latin equivalent also exists in English: "eradicate". "Deraxinate" or
the like doesn't seem right in any language, at a glance.

-- Doug Wilson