"Freedom of stench"

[Bill Palmer]

Thank you Joel

It seems like 945 years ago that I was taking a course in Anglo-Saxon from
Prof Edw. A. Stephenson @ Old Dominion U. (it  was actually in 1963) As I
should have expressed it..."I remember from when I was studying Anglo-Saxon
about 45 years ago....etc"

It is really hard to sneak anything past you guys. In the words of Satchel
Paige (I think)..it's like trying to slip sunrise past a rooster.

Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 3:17 PM
Subject: Re: "Freedom of stench"


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "Freedom of stench"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 9/3/2009 02:14 PM, Bill Palmer wrote:
>>Interesting side note...from my recall of Anglo-Saxon,of about 45 years
>>ago,
>>"stench" (written then, I think as "stenc") meant any kind of smell or
>>odor,
>>not just an unpleasant one.
>
> Did you mean of 945 years ago?  :-)  The OED has "{dag}1. An odour, a
> smell (pleasant or unpleasant); also, the sense of smell. OE. only
> (very common)." with the most recent citation c1000.  After that, its
> senses are all foul.
>
> Joel
>
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