Forms: 1 Ænglisc, Englisc, 24 Englisch(e, 36 Englis(s, -ys, (3 Ænglis, Engleis, -is(s)ce, 46 Englissh(e, -issch, -yss(h(e, -yssche, Inglis(s, -ish(e, -isshe, (4 Engliȝsch, -ijs, Engelis(sh, -ysch, Ingelis, Ynglisse, 6 Englush, Ynglyche), 4 English. [OE. ęnglisc, ænglisc:OTeut. *anglisko-, f. *Angli- (OE. Engle) pl., the Angles, one of the Teutonic peoples who settled in Britain in 5th c.; see ANGLE3.]
A. adj.
1. In early uses now only Hist. Often with ellipsis of pl. sb. as in 2 d.
When the adj. first occurs in OE., it had already lost its etymological sense of or belonging to the Angles (as distinguished from Saxons). The earliest recorded sense is: Of or belonging to the group of Teutonic peoples collectively known as the Angelcynn (Angle-kin = Bædas gens Anglorum), comprising the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, who settled in Britain during the 5th c. With the incorporation of the Celtic and Scandinavian elements of the population into the English people, the adj. came in the 11th c. to be applied to all natives of England, whatever their ancestry. But for a generation or two after the Norman Conquest, the descendants of the invaders, though born in England, continued to be regarded as French, so that the word English, as applied to persons, was for a time restricted to those whose ancestors were settled in England before the Conquest. In formal state documents the distinction between the French and English inhabitants of England survived after it had ceased practically to exist; cf. ENGLISHRY.
c. 880. Ælfred & Guthrums Treaty (Thorpe), ii. Gif man ofslaʓen weorðe, ealle we læteð efen dyrne, Engliscne & Deniscne.
a. 1000. Ordinance respecting Dûnsǽte (Thorpe), vi. Nah naðer to farenne ne Wylisc man on Ænglisc lond ne Ænglisc on Wylisc, butan [etc.].
a. 1016. Laws of Æthelred (Thorpe). Gif Ænglisc man Deniscne ofslea.
a. 1087. Charter Will. I., in Stubbs, Sel. Chart., 83. Willm kyng gret ealle þa burhwaru binnan Londone Frencisce and Englisce.
c. 1205. Lay., 29404. Þat folc þæt was Ænglis. Ibid., 29457. Of Englisce leoden. Ibid., 31673. Penda king is Englisc.
1809. Bawdwen, Domesday Bk., 345. The English have four ploughs in the demesne.
1860. Hook, Lives Abps. (1869), I. iv. 174. Since the English came into Britain.
1872. E. Robertson, Hist. Ess., 215. The gradual extension of the English name in the course of the 10th century is very perceptible.
2. Of or belonging to England or its inhabitants.
c. 1290. Lives Saints (1887), 73. Þe englische barones.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, I. 193. Schyrreffys and bailȝheys maid he [Edward I.] of Inglis nation.
15[?]. Earl Surrey, Death Sir T. Wyat, Poems (Aldine ed.), 60. A worthy guide to bring Our English youth by travail into fame.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., III. i. 143. Would I had neuer trod this English Earth.
1645. Fuller, Gd. Th. in Bad T. (1841), 37. The English ambassador.
1796. H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierres Stud. Nat. (1799), III. 707. I embarked on board an English ship which had sailed round the world.
1805. Scott, Last Minstrel, IV. xvii. Now every English eye, intent, On Branksomes armed towers was bent.
1842. Bischoff, Woollen Manuf. (1862), II. 125. English wools rose in price.
1852. Earp, Gold Col. Australia, 102. To give the English reader an idea of its present condition.
b. In the names of various trees and plants; as English Elm, Ulmus campestris (see ELM); E. Galingale, Cyperus longus; E. Maidenhair, Asplenium Trichomanes; E. Myrtle, Ligustrum vulgare; E. Treacle, Teucrium Scordium.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, III. xxiii. 346. The roote of Cyperus or *English Galangal, is hoate and dry in the third degree.
1861. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., VI. 12. Order. Cyperaceæ Sweet or English Galingale.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. (1568), 157 b. Trichomanes (that is our *English Maydens heare) is supposed [etc.].
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, III. lxix. 410. (Heading), Of English or common Maydenheare.
1879. in Prior, Plant-n.
1846. Sowerby, Brit. Bot., *English Myrtle, the Common privet, Ligustrum vulgare.
1551. Turner, Herbal, I. I iiij a. Germander, whyche is also called in Cambrige shyre *Englyshe triacle, is called in Greke Chamedrys.
1670. Ray, Catal. Plant. Angliæ, 67 (Britten & Holl.). In agro Cantabrigiensi English Treacle dicitur.
1886. In Britten & Holland.
c. In the names of certain diseases: English Cholera, † English Sweat: see the sbs. † English Disease (Malady), English Melancholy: the spleen.
[1733. Cheyne, Eng. Malady (1734), Pref. p. i. By Foreigners Nervous Distempers, Spleen, Vapours, and Lowness of Spirits, are, in Derision, calld the ENGLISH MALADY.
1834. M. Good Study of Med. (ed. 4), III. 113. English Melancholy.]
d. ellipt. = English people, soldiers, etc.
(A 17th-c. Sc. writer has the pl. Englishes.)
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., I. ii. 111. O Noble English, that could entertaine With halfe their Forces, the full pride of France.
1671. [R. MacWard], True Non-conf., 221. The violences, wherewith the Englishes, during their Domination among us, can be charged.
1711. Swift, Lett. (1767), III. 181. Pray observe the inhabitants about Wexford; they are old English.
1765. T. Hutchinson, Hist. Col. Mass., i. 146. And they prayed, that civil liberty and freedom might be forthwith granted to all truly English.
1859. Knight, Pop. Hist. Eng., V. 165. That terrible battle-field, which the French call Neerwinden and the English call Landen.
3. transf. Marked by the characteristics of an Englishman. Often in laudatory sense: Possessed of the virtues claimed as peculiarly English.
1539. Tonstall, Serm. Palm Sund., E ij b. Only take an englyshe hart vnto the.
1695. Enq. Anc. Const. Eng., Pref. 6. He will find the design to be truly English, that is, sincere and honest.
1883. Phelps, Eng. Style, 40. A mind compact with sturdy and solid English elements.
quasi-adv. 1784. Cowper, Tiroc., 671. His address Not English stiff, but frank and formed to please.
4. As the designation of a language (see B. 1). Hence of words, idioms, grammar, etc.: Belonging to the English language. Of literary compositions, speeches, etc.: Written or spoken in the English language.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom. (Thorpe), II. 358 (Bosw.). Ic [Ælfric Abbod] ʓesett hæbbe wel feowertiʓ larspella on Engliscum ʓereorde. Ibid. (c. 1000), in Sweet, Ags. Reader, 57. Ðu bæde me for oft Engliscra ʓewrita.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 5. And seið syon ase muchel on englische leodene ase heh sihðe.
a. 1240. Ureisun, in Cott. Hom., 199. Ich habbe i-sungen þe ðesne englissce lai.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 14. Ut of latin ðis song is draȝen On Engleis speche.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 24 (Cott.). Sanges Inglis, frankys, and latine. Ibid., 233 (Gött.). Þis ilke boke es translate vnto engliss tung to rede.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 140. Englysshe speche, Anglicum.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 1 b. It was put into my mynde to drawe it in the englysshe tonge.
1580. Bullokar, Orthogr., There be eight vowels of differing sounds in Inglish speech.
1611. Bible, Dedic., There should be one more exact Translation of the holy Scriptures into the English tongue.
1840. Macaulay, Ranke (1854), II. 541/2. We now see this book take its place among the English Classics.
1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, Shaks., Wks. (Bohn), I. 357. Our English Bible is a wonderful specimen of the strength and music of the English language.
b. with limiting words as in B. 1 b.
1579. Fulke, Refut. Rastel, 763. Prayers remaine still in the Saxon or old English tongue.
Mod. An Old English grammar. Middle-English literature. It is not a modern English word.
B. sb.
1. The English language. First in the adverbial phrase, † on (now in) English. Also in phrase, the kings, the queens English, app. suggested by phrases like to deface the kings coin. Also attrib. as English scholar.
In 9th c., and prob. much earlier, Englisc was the name applied to all the Angle and Saxon dialects spoken in Britain. The name English for the language is thus older than the name England for the country. In its most comprehensive use, it includes all the dialects descended from the language of the early Teutonic conquerors of Britain; but it is sometimes popularly restricted to the language since the close of the Anglo-Saxon or fully inflected stage; sometimes to the language and dialects of England proper, as distinguished from those of Scotland, Ireland, U.S., etc.; and sometimes to the literary or standard form of the language as distinct from illiterate or ungrammatical speech, etc.
[The use as sb. seems to have originated, not in the ellipsis of any particular word (e.g., ʓereord) meaning language, but in a vague absol. use of the neuter adj. A similar use is found in the other Teut. langs. and in Romanic; cf. Ger. anf deutsch, Fr. en français, Sp. en castellano.]
c. 890. K. Ælfred, Bæda, III. xix. On sumre ceastre þe is nemned on Englisc Cneoferisburh.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xxvii. 46. Heli, Heli, lema zabdani? þæt ys on Englisc, Min God, min God, to hwi forlete þu me?
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 103. On [sin] is icweden, Gula, þet is ȝifernesse on englisc.
c. 1205. Lay., 6317. Wrat þa laȝen on Englis.
a. 1300. Cursor M., p. 988 Resurrection, 240 (Cott.). Raboni (þat is on englis maister). Ibid. (c. 1340), 26545 (Fairf.). Þat now in Ingelis [v.r. Cott. englis] wil I rede.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 429. Þe same sentense in engliȝsch.
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys, Introd. 4. Wych I purpose now to declare On ynglysh.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 1 b. The mater is spirytuall, and requyreth moche declaracion in englysshe.
c. 1530. Ld. Berners (title), The hystory of the moost noble and valyaunt knyght Arthur of lytell brytayne, translated out of frensshe in to englushe.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., I. iv. 6. Abusing of Gods patience, and the Kings English.
1704. Lond. Gaz., No. 4046/4. Maurice Roberts a Shropshire Man, speaking very bad English.
1782. Wesley, Wks. (1830), IV. 267. Why has he then bad English on every page?
1836. E. Howard, R. Reefer, I. xxxv. 172. They put the kings English to death so charmingly.
1864. Alford (title), A Plea for the Queens English.
b. The English of a special period or district, or that which appears in the writings of an individual author. Old English: in popular use applied vaguely to all obsolete forms of the language. According to the nomenclature now generally adopted in this country, the Old English period ends about 110050, the Middle English period about 1500, when the period of Modern English begins. The name Early English is often used vaguely for Early Middle English, or for Middle and Early Modern English.
a. 1225. St. Marher., 23. I þe moneþ þat on ure ledene is old englisch efterlið inempnet, iulius o latin.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 7672. Yn a prouerbe of olde englys.
1340. Ayenb., Engliss of Kent.
1691. Wood, Ath. Oxon., I. 257. To these books of Euphues, tis said, that our Nation is indebted for a new English in them.
1887. Ruskin, Præterita, II. x. 338. Hookers English was the perfectest existing model.
† 2. The English at an authors command; means of expression in English. Obs.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 66, Prol. Allas, that I ne had Englyssh, ryme, or prose, Suffisant this flour to preyse aryght! Ibid. (c. 1386), Sqrs T., 29. Myn Englissh eek is insufficient.
1631. Weever, Anc. Fun. Mon., 553. I will set downe in such English as I haue in the said Legend, or Agon.
3. † a. An English sentence to be rendered into a foreign language. † b. An English equivalent for a foreign word. c. (School slang) An English translation; a crib.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gram. (Z.), 259. Ealle ðas habbað an Englisc, þeah hi for faegernysse fela synd on Ledenspræce.
1552. Huloet, Englyshe or vulgare geuen by a maister to scholers to be made in latine.
1612. Brinsley, Pos. Parts (1669), 49. The Englishes of our [Latin] Prepositions. Ibid., 53. When an English is given to be made Latine, what must you do first?
1679. W. Walker, Dict. Eng. Particles, Pref. The first column contains some Englishes.
1862. H. C. Adams, First of June, 66. I sometimes have half suspected him of learning his lessons with Englishes!
4. ellipt. for The sense expressed in plain English, the plain sense; also, Plain, true English; † English out; and in phrase, In plain English: to speak plainly.
1645. [G. Gillespie], Liberty of Conscience, Pref. A iij. The plain english of the question is this: whether the Christian Magistrate be keeper of both Tables.
1647. Ward, Simp. Cobler (ed. 4), 12. The true English of all this their false Latine, is nothing but a generall Toleration of all Opinions.
1659. Scott, in Burton, Diary (1828), IV. 377. That is English out.
1679. Penn, Addr. Prot., II. § 5 (1692), 184. This is the English of their Doctrine.
1705. Stanhope, Paraphr., III. 376. The plain English of what he thanks God for is in effect but Thus much.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, VII. v. (1840), 86. The English of all which is that I am in the wrong.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, vii. 121. When they unmask cant, they say, The English of this is, &c.
† 5. A Flemish coin (see quot.). Obs.
a. 1500[?]. Athenæum (1867), 7 Dec., 768/3. Viij mytis ys an englisshe, that is the iijde parte of jd.
1540. Act 32 Hen. VIII., c. 14. A piece of flemmishe mony called an Englyshe.
6. Printing. a. The name of a size of type smaller than Great Primer and larger than Pica: English Type.
1598. Ord. Stationers Co., in Hist. O. E. Lett. Foundries (1887), 129. Those in pica Roman and Italic and in English.
1676. Moxon, Print Lett., 8. The Stem of English Capitals is 6 parts.
1824. J. Johnson, Typogr., II. 78. English is called Mittel by the Germans.
b. Old English: a form of Black Letter resembling that used by early English printers; now occasionally employed for ornamental purposes.
C. Comb. a. Prefixed to ppl. adjs., as English-born, -bred, -built, -managed, -manned, -rigged, -speaking. b. Forming parasynthetic derivatives, as English-hearted, -minded. c. Prefixed to other adjs., as † English-Indian, † -Irish, † -Popish; † English-Saxon, = ANGLO-SAXON; also English-French, -German, -Latin, etc., said of dictionaries in which English words are followed by their renderings into other languages.
1837. Lytton, E. Maltravers, I. 15. But I am *English-born.
1880. Earle, Philol. Eng. Tong., § 155. A large body of French words in our language pronounced as English-born words.
1808. Bentham, Sc. Reform, 80. Such ingenuity is not wanting to *English-bred technicalism.
c. 1677. List Ships, in Marvell, Growth Popery, 61. The John and Sarah, of 120 Tun, *English Built.
1848. Lytton, Harold, I. II. i. 84. Many of Godwins noblest foes sighed for the *English-hearted Earl.
1613. Purchas, Pilgr., Descr. India (1864), 127. Our *English-Indian Societie.
1700. Tyrrell, Hist. Eng., II. 888. All the *English-Irish Knights ran away.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xlii. Three English-Irish peers.
1740. J. Clarke, Educ. Youth (ed. 3), 37. Such sort of *English-Latin Dictionaries.
1888. Ld. Hartington, in Daily News, 26 Nov., 2/5. This estate has always been what has been called an *English-managed estate.
1882. J. H. Blunt, Ref. Ch. Eng., II. 162. Thoroughly *English-minded men such as Gardiner.
1799. Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp. (1845), IV. 97. An *English-manned Frigate.
1641. Sanderson, Serm., II. 8. This clamouring against *English-Popish ceremonies.
1832. Marryat, N. Forster, II. xvii. 279. She is English built, and *English rigged, sir, that I ll swear.
1610. Holland, Camdens Brit., I. To Rdr. The most ancient, British and *English-Saxon tongues.
1695. Enq. Anc. Const. Eng., 33. As all his English-Saxon Predecessors had done before him.
1777. Nicolson & Burn, Westmoreland, I. 309. Our English-Saxon word evil seems to spring from the same source.
1873. F. Hall, Mod. English, 146. The *English-speaking people.
1883. Lowell, in Daily News, 5 July, 6/2. We continually hear nowadays of the English-speaking race, of the English-speaking population.
1887. Spectator, 26 Feb., 300/1. Of this happy gift Mr. Lowell has among English-speaking men almost a monopoly.
Hence English-hood (rare).
1863. Spectator, 3 Oct., 2575/2. Without in any way impairing the Englishhood of those whom they affected.
1865. G. R. Searson, in Leicester Chron., 16 Dec., 7/2. He [Governor Eyre] allowed his English-hood to be kidnapped by men-floggers.
1883. Mrs. Lynn Linton, Ione, II. xxiii. 260. The Englishhood of long walks in the lanes and fields.