A select glossary of English words used formerly in senses different from their present — Key Ideas to Explore

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Authors: Mayhew, A. L. (Anthony Lawson), 1842-1916 [Editor], Trench, Richard Chenevix, 1807-1886 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2023 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: English language -- Semantics Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

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Words 90,604

Reading time 394 min

Text sections 22

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This glossary traces semantic shifts in English words, using historical quotations to show how terms like 'jolly,' 'knave,' and 'kindly' once carried meanings far removed from their modern senses.

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in ‘allaudare,’--and not to be confounded with another ‘allow,’ derived from another ‘allouer,’ the Latin ‘allocare,’--had once a sense very often of praise or approval, which may now be said to have departed from it altogether. Thus in Cotgrave’s _French and English Dictionary_, an invaluable witness of the force and meanings which words had two centuries ago, ‘allow’ is rendered by ‘allouer,’ ‘gréer,’ ‘approuver,’ ‘accepter,’ and ‘allowable’ by ‘louable.’

Mine enemy, say they, is not worthy to have gentle words or deeds, being so full of malice or frowardness. The less he is worthy, the more art thou therefore _allowed_ of God, and the more art thou commended of Christ.--_Homilies_; _Against Contention_.

The hospitality and alms of abbeys is not altogether to be _allowed_, or dispraised.--PILKINGTON, _The Burning of Paul’s_, § 12.

Truly ye bear witness that ye _allow_ [συνευδοκεῖτε] the deeds of your fathers.--_Luke_ xi. 48. (A. V.)

A stirring dwarf we do _allowance_ give Before a sleeping giant.

SHAKESPEARE, _Troilus and Cressida_, act ii. sc. 3.

Though I deplore your schism from the Catholic Church, yet I should bear false witness if I did not confess your decency, which I discerned at the holy duty, was very _allowable_ in the consecrators and receivers.--HACKET, _Life of Archbishop Williams_, part ii. p. 211.

=AMIABLE.= This and ‘lovely’ have been so far differentiated that ‘amiable’ never expresses now any other than _moral_ loveliness; which in ‘lovely’ is seldom or never implied. There was a time when ‘amiable’ had no such restricted use, when it and ‘lovely’ were absolutely synonymous, as, etymologically, they might claim still to be.

Come sit thee down upon this flow’ry bed, While I thy _amiable_ cheeks do coy.

SHAKESPEARE, _Midsummer Night’s Dream_, act iv. sc. 1.

How _amiable_ are thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts.--_Ps._ lxxxiv. 1. (A.V.)

Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm, Others whose fruit, burnished with golden rind, Hung _amiable_.

MILTON, _Paradise Lost_, iv. 248.

=AMUSE=, } AMUSEMENT. }

The notion of diversion, entertainment, is comparatively of recent introduction into the word. ‘To amuse’ was to cause to muse, to occupy or engage, and in this sense indeed to _divert_, the thoughts and attention. The quotation from Phillips shows the word in transition to its present meaning. [O. Fr. _amuser_ is a compound of _muser_, to muse, study, linger about a matter, to sniff as a hound, from *_muse_, a muzzle, nose of an animal (whence Mod. Fr. _museau_). Compare Florio’s Italian Dictionary: ‘_Musare_, to muse, to muzzle, to gape, to hold one’s _muzle_ or snout in the air.’ The O. Fr. *_muse_ is the same word as the Lat. _morsus_, see Mayhew-Skeat, _Dict. of Middle English_.]

Camillus set upon the Gauls, when they were _amused_ in receiving their gold.--HOLLAND, _Livy_, p. 223.

Being _amused_ with grief, fear, and fright, he could not find a house in London (otherwise well known to him), whither he intended to go.--FULLER, _Church History of Britain_, b. ix. § 44.

A siege of Maestricht or Wesel (so garrisoned and resolutely defended), might not only have _amused_, but endangered the French armies.--Sir W. TEMPLE, _Observations on the United Provinces_, c. 8.

To _amuse_, to stop or stay one with a trifling story, to make him lose his time, to feed with vain expectations, to hold in play.--PHILLIPS, _New World of Words_.

In a just way it is lawful to deceive the unjust enemy, but not to lie; that is, by stratagems and semblances of motions, by _amusements_ and intrigues of actions, by ambushes and wit, by simulation and dissimulation.--Bishop TAYLOR, _Ductor Dubitantium_, b. iii. c. 2.

=ANATOMY.= Now the act of dissection, but it was often used by our elder writers for the thing or object dissected, and then, as this was stripped of its flesh, for what we now call a skeleton. ‘Skeleton,’ which see, had then another meaning.

Here will be some need of assistants in this live, and to the quick, dissection, to deliver me from the violence of the _anatomy_.--WHITLOCK, _Zootomia_, p. 249.

Antiquity held too light thoughts from objects of mortality, while some drew provocatives of mirth from _anatomies_, and jugglers showed tricks with skeletons.--Sir T. BROWNE, _Hydriotaphia_.

A hungry lean-faced villain, A mere _anatomy_, a mountebank, A needy, hollow-eyed, sharp-looking wretch, A living deadman.

SHAKESPEARE, _Comedy of Errors_, act v. sc. 1.

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Richard Chenevix Trench’s A Select Glossary does not merely list obsolete words; it exposes the drift of meaning that separates present-day English from its earlier forms. Each entry pairs a word with quotations—from Chaucer, Shakespeare, Wiclif, and others—that illustrate a former sense now lost or altered. The entry for ‘jolly,’ for instance, shows that it once meant ‘beautiful,’ a sense carried over from French ‘joli.’ Trench’s method is to let the quoted passages speak, often adding a brief remark on the social or linguistic forces behind the change. The result is a work that reads less like a dictionary and more like a series of miniature essays on how language evolves through use, misuse, and cultural shift.

The Evidence of Quotation

Trench builds each entry around dated quotations, allowing the reader to see a word in action across centuries. For ‘knave,’ he cites Wiclif’s translation of Exodus (‘a knave child’) and Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (‘gentle knave’), where the word simply means ‘boy’ or ‘servant.’ The shift to ‘dishonest person’ is inferred from the contexts: Trench notes that ‘many serving-lads must have been unfaithful and dishonest before “knave” acquired its modern meaning.’ He does not assert a single cause but points to a pattern visible in German cognates like ‘Bube’ and ‘Schalk.’ The quotations are chosen to span genres—biblical translation, poetry, drama, and prose—giving a broad view of usage.

Moral and Social Undercurrents

Several entries reveal how words absorbed ethical judgments over time. ‘Kindly,’ Trench explains, originally meant simply ‘of the same kind’ or ‘natural,’ with no moral connotation. He quotes Wiclif’s ‘kyndeli sone of God’ and Andrewes’s ‘kindly brood of the Man of sin’ to show the neutral sense. Only later did the word acquire its modern sense of ‘benevolent.’ Trench’s comment—‘it is God’s ordinance that “kind” should be “kindly”’—suggests a teleological view of language, as if meaning naturally gravitates toward moral goodness. This interpretive stance is characteristic: Trench often implies that semantic change reflects broader cultural or religious truths, though he grounds each claim in textual evidence.

Physical and Figurative Drift

Some words have narrowed from general physical reference to specific body parts. ‘Knuckle,’ Trench notes, once meant any joint, as in Golding’s translation of Ovid: ‘With weary knuckles on thy brim she kneeled.’ The word now refers almost exclusively to the finger joints. Similarly, ‘lace’ (not fully excerpted) likely traces a path from a cord or string to the decorative fabric. Trench’s method is to highlight such narrowing without over-explaining; he trusts the quotations to show the older, broader sense. The entry for ‘knuckle’ includes Milton’s ‘maukin knuckles,’ a phrase that would puzzle a modern reader without the gloss. These physical terms demonstrate how language can lose specificity even as it gains precision in other domains.

The Editor’s Hand: Mayhew’s Revisions

The seventh edition, revised by A. L. Mayhew in 1890, preserves Trench’s original preface but adds updated references and corrections. Mayhew’s role is evident in the inclusion of later sources, such as the 1665 pamphlet Jus Populi Vindicatum under ‘kindly.’ The preface, written by Trench for the first edition, outlines his pedagogical aim: to offer a substitute for classical language training by decomposing English poetry and prose. He singles out Milton’s Lycidas and Bacon’s essays as ideal texts for this exercise. Mayhew’s revisions ensure that the glossary remains useful for late-Victorian readers, but the core method—tracing semantic change through illustrative quotations—remains Trench’s. The collaboration between author and editor gives the work a layered texture, blending two scholarly voices across decades.

Trench’s glossary rewards readers who approach it as a collection of case studies rather than a reference tool. The entries are short enough to browse, but the cumulative effect is a deepened awareness of how words carry history. For anyone reading older English texts, this book offers a practical key to passages that might otherwise mislead. It also invites reflection on the words we use today: which of them will shift meaning in the next century, and what will that say about us?

There’s something tender about watching old words drift, like jolly once meaning proud and brave, and I found that same quiet ache in the Repertory of The Comedie Humaine, Part 1 — Edition Insights, where names and places hold histories we no longer quite see. It lingered with me gently, a familiar sadness of things shifting underneath us.