"Needful"?

[Baker, John]

        The context shows that the craftsmen and artificers in question
are the ones who are among the notables of the town.  That is consistent
with a meaning of "needful" as "indispensable" and inconsistent with a
"needy" meaning.


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Joel S. Berson
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2008 10:46 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "Needful"?

At 10/20/2008 11:53 PM, Marc Velasco wrote:
>How was it used when Stephen King wrote the book?

How would that help me?  I'm reading a book written a 100 years ago,
where the author may be using "needful" as it was used 200 years before
that.

Joel


>On Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 7:42 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      "Needful"?
> >
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
> >
> > In a book published in 1891 (1st ed. 1871), the author writes of the

> > central section of Boston in the early 17th century, that in that
> > area "dwelt the notables of the town,---the governor, the elder of
> > the church, the captain of the artillery company, and the most
> > needful of the craftsmen and artificers of the humble plantation;
> > and at a short distance from it were the meeting-house, the
> > market-house, the town-house, the school-house, and the ever-flowing

> > spring of pure water."
> >
> > Am I right in understanding "needful" here as adj.1, sense 1,
> > "Requisite, necessary, indispensable, essential." -- that is, where
> > one today might say "needed, necessary, essential" -- rather than
> > sense 2, "Of a person: poor, needy; lacking the necessities of
life."?
> >
> > Joel

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