[Ads-l] Blive

[Ben Zimmer]

The list of acceptable words to guess in Wordle is based on CSW (formerly
known as SOWPODS), a word list used in Scrabble outside of North America,
in turn based on the Collins Dictionary.

You can see all ~13,000 valid Wordle words here:
https://gist.github.com/dracos/dd0668f281e685bad51479e5acaadb93

In the Collins list used for Scrabble, BLIVE is defined as "immediately,
also BELIVE, BYLIVE [adv]"

See e.g.: https://thepixiepit.co.uk/scrabble/CSW12.txt

On Fri, Jul 15, 2022 at 4:04 AM David Daniel <dad at coarsecourses.com> wrote:

> Thanks, guys. This came up in Wordle, not as a solution word, but as an
> acceptable guess word. And I just thought that was really odd because it
> wasn't in M-W or Oxford online. (I didn't use it as a guess word, someone
> else did.) Yourdictionary.com has it as: (intransitive) Alternative form of
> belive ("to remain"); (obsolete) Quickly; forthwith. But they also have
> other obscure words that mainstream dictionaries don't, such as "blivit,"
> which I had only seen written as "blivet," meaning ten pounds of shit in a
> five pound bag. OED having it as a variant of "believe" is something else
> again. Thanks, again.
> DAD
>
> Poster:       Paul A Johnston <paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Blive
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
>
> That would make sense--a post-GVS "occasional spelling".  Are there any
> cog=
> nates of German "bleiben"--i don't know what the OHG or MHG vowel was, and
> =
> i didn't think it was /i:/, but if it were, it would give "b(e)live" in
> Ear=
> ly modern English.  The senses don't match, unless the OHG was different
> fr=
> om the Modern language. 'Believe" itself is a little weird, as i recall
> it,=
> it was beleafan" (long vowel) in OE, the same root as "glauben" < OHG gilo=
> uban" and a different prefix.  This should turn into an open /E:/ in Early
> =
> Modern English, but i can't mind a relic of this in modern diaects, and
> 160=
> 0 is a little early for an <i> spelling in the ancestor of the Standard,
> th=
> ough possible in other dialects.
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> Chris =
> Waigl <chris at LASCRIBE.NET>
> Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2022 7:33 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Blive
>
> Poster:       Chris Waigl <chris at LASCRIBE.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Blive
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ----
>
> I should say, with a date of 1600 attached.
>
> On Thu, Jul 14, 2022 at 3:33 PM Chris Waigl <chris at lascribe.net> wrote:
>
> > It's in there as a spelling variant of believe (v.). Do you want all
> > the definitions?
> >
> > On Thu, Jul 14, 2022 at 3:02 PM David Daniel <dad at coarsecourses.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Hi, can someone with access please tell me if "blive" is in the OED
> >> and, if so, it's definition?
>
>

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