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These definitions are from the Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition, on CD (version 2.0)

alliteration

[n. of action f. alliterate v.: see -ation.]
[f. L. al-, ad- to…littera letter…-ate, on the analogy of obliterate, f. L. oblitterát-um, oblitterá-re, already formed in L.]

1. gen. The commencing of two or more words in close connexion, with the same letter, or rather the same sound.

1656 Blount Glossogr., Alliteration, a figure in Rhetorick, repeating and playing on the same letter. 1749 Power Pros. Numbers 71 That which some call Alliteration, i.e. beginning several Words with the same Letter, if it be natural, is a real Beauty. 1763 Churchill Proph. Famine Poems I. 101 Apt Alliteration's artful aid. 1831 Macaulay Johnson 126 Taxation no Tyranny..was..nothing but a jingling alliteration which he ought to have despised. 1871 R. F. Weymouth Euph. 4 ‘Delightful to be read, and nothing hurtfull to be regarded; wherein there is small offence by lightnes given to the wise, and lesse occasion of loosenesse profferred to the wanton.’ Lilie's favourite form of alliteration is well marked in this sentence.

2. The commencement of certain accented syllables in a verse with the same consonant or consonantal group, or with different vowel sounds, which constituted the structure of versification in OE. and the Teutonic languages generally. Thus from the beginning of Langland's Piers Ploughman, text C.: In a somere seyson · whan softe was þe sonne, Y shop me into shrobbis · as y a shepherde were; In abit as an ermite · vnholy of werkes, Ich wente forth in þe worlde · wonders to hure, And sawe meny cellis · and selcouthe þynges.

1774 T. Warton Eng. Poetry (1840) I. Diss. i. 38 The Islandic poets are said to have carried alliteration to the highest pitch of exactness. 1846 T. Wright Ess. Mid. Ages I. i. 14 The form of Saxon poetry is alliteration − not rhyme. 1871 Earle Philol. Eng. Tong. §626 Alliteration did not necessarily act on the initial letter of the word.

Anglo-Saxon

Forms: 1 Angul-, Angel-, Ongol-seaxan n. pl., 7– Anglo-Saxon, -saxon, 9 Anglosaxon. [Prob. in 9th c., as certainly in 17th, ad. L. Anglo-Saxones, -Saxon-icus, in which Anglo-, comb. form of Anglus, -W, is used adverbially, as in similar L. and Gr. compounds, as sacro-sanctus sacredly sanctioned, #mdo-rjth¬a Indian Scythia, Scythia of the Indus, Rtqo-uo´min, L. Syrophœnix, Phœnician of Syria. Cf. also Gallo-græci, and in later use Mœso-Gothi Goths of Mœsia. Hence Anglo-Saxones, Angel-seaxan = English Saxons, Saxons of England or of the Angul-cynn (gens Anglorum, Bæda), as distinguished from the Ald-Seaxan (Antiqui Saxones, Bæda) or Old-Saxons of the continent. The earliest L. forms were Angli Saxones, Saxones Angli (two words ‘English Saxons’), whence Angli-Saxones, and finally Anglo-Saxones, Anglosaxones. App. of continental origin; in OE. use, rare in the Eng. form; not uncommon in Latin documents down to 1100.]

I. English Saxon, Saxon of England: orig. a collective name for the Saxons of Britain as distinct from the ‘Old Saxons’ of the continent. Hence, properly applied to the Saxons (of Wessex, Essex, Middlesex, Sussex, and perhaps Kent), as distinct from the Angles. a. n. (the only contemporary use).

[c775 Paulus Diaconus iv. xxiii, Vestimenta..qualia Angli Saxones habere solent. Ibid. iv. xxxvii, E Saxonum Anglorum genere duxit uxorem. c885 Charter, Cod. Dip. V. 134 Ego Ælfredus, gratia Dei, Angul-Saxonum rex.] 934 Chart. C.D. V. 218-9 Ic Æthelstán, Ongol-Saxna cyning and Brytænwalda eallæs þyses iglandes. 955 Chart. C.D. II. 303 He hafað geweorðad mid cynedóme Angulseaxna Eádred cyning and cásere totius Britanniæ.

b. adj. absol. In this Dictionary, the language of England before 1100 is called, as a whole, ‘Old English’ (OE.); Anglo-Saxon, when used, is restricted to the Saxon as distinguished from the Anglian dialects of Old English; thus we may say that eald was the Anglo-Saxon (i.e. West Saxon and Kentish) form of the normal OE. ald (retained in Anglian), whence, and not from eald, we have mod. Eng. old. II. Extended to the entire Old English people and language before the Norman Conquest.
    For these there was apparently at first no collective name; subsequently, the name Englisc (Anglish, English) was extended from the dialect of the Angles (the first to be committed to writing) to all dialects of the vernacular, whether Anglian or Saxon; and Angul-cynn (Angle-kin, gens Anglorum), and later still, during the struggle with the Danes, ‘English’ and ‘Englishman,’ to all speakers of the vernacular in any dialect Angle or Saxon. After the Norman Conquest, the natives and the new incomers were at first distinguished as ‘English’ and ‘French,’ but, as the latter also became in a few generations ‘English’ politically and geographically, men's notions of ‘English’ changed accordingly, so that the 12th c. chroniclers could no longer apply the word distinctively to the people of Edward the Confessor and Harold, for whom therefore they recalled the name ‘Saxon,’ applicable enough to the West Saxon dynasty, but incorrect when extended to the whole Angle-kin over whom they ruled. At the hands of the Latin chroniclers, often foreigners, to whom the historical relations of Saxons and Angles were not very obvious, a similar extension of meaning had been given to Anglo-Saxones. But this name did not reappear in English till after 1600, when, with the revival of OE. learning, historians and philologists again felt the need of distinguishing English ‘Saxon’ from the Saxon of Germany. The modern use dates from Camden, who himself used Anglo-Saxon-es, -icus, in Latin, and English Saxon in his vernacular works. His translator adapted the Lat. as Anglo-Saxon, which gradually displaced ‘English Saxon,’ first as n., and finally as adj. also. But it was applied, as Saxon had been for 500 years erroneously applied, to ‘Old English’ as a whole. This has led in turn to an erroneous analysis of the word, which has been taken as = Angle + Saxon, a union of Angle and Saxon; and in accordance with this mistaken view, modern combinations have been profusely formed in which Anglo- is meant to express ‘English and..’, ‘English in connexion with..’, as ‘the Anglo-Russian war’; whence, on the same analogy, Franco-German, Turko-Russian, etc. See Anglo-.

a. n.

[1586-1607 Camden Brit. 94 Nunc..Anglo-Saxones ad differentiam eorum in Germania, vocatos. Ibid. 128 Maiores nostri Anglo-Saxones Wittena-ge-mott, .i. Prudentum Conuentus..vocârunt.] [1610 Holland Camden's Brit. 177 The Anglo Saxons our ancestors termed it Wittena-ge-mott, that is, an assembly of the wise. Ibid. i. 127 (title) English Saxons; (marg. title) Anglo-Saxons. [1605 Camden Rem. (1614) 20 The English-Saxon tongue came in by the English-Saxons out of Germany.] [1726 Tindal Rapin's Eng. (1757) I. i. 90 They were generally called Saxons, yet they had sometimes the compound name of Anglo-Saxons given them. 1735 Thomson Liberty iv. (T.) Ere, blood-cemented, Anglo-Saxons saw Egbert and Peace on one united throne. 1846 Wright Mid. Ages I. i. 2 Public attention..was first drawn to the writings of the Anglo-Saxons at the time of the reformation. [a1861 Palgrave Norm. & Eng. (1864) III. 596, I must..substitute henceforward the true and antient word English for the unhistorical and conventional term Anglo-Saxon, an expression conveying a most false idea in our civil history. [1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1877) I. 548, I speak therefore of our forefathers, not as ‘Saxons,’ or even as ‘Anglo-Saxons,’ but as they spoke of themselves, as Englishmen.

b. adj. (absol. The Old English language.)

[1586-1607 Camden Brit. 121 In Anglo-Saxonicis legibus nusquam comparet. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. 168 In the English-Saxon lawes, it is nowhere to be seene. 1605 Camden Rem. (1614) 21 The English-Saxon conquerors, altred the tongue which they found here wholly. Ibid. 70 Folc, the English-Saxon woorde for people. 1715 E. Elstob (title) The Rudiments of Grammar for the English Saxon Tongue. 1726 Ayliffe Parerg. 11 Under all the English Saxon Kings.] 1726 Tindal Rapin's Eng. (1757) I. iii. 157 The Anglo-Saxon kings were naturally very restless. 1783 Bailey, the Saxon language as it was spoken in England. 1876 Sweet Anglo-Sax. Reader xi, The oldest stage of English before the Norman Conquest is now called ‘Old English,’ but the older name of ‘Anglo-Saxon’ is still very generally used. 1955 Quirk & Wrenn O.E. Gram. 1 In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the term Anglo-Saxon..was the commonest name for the language; but, although still sometimes used by scholars it has gradually been replaced in the last hundred years by the more scientific term Old English.

III. Used rhetorically for English in its wider or ethnological sense, in order to avoid the later historical restriction of ‘English’ as distinct from Scotch, or the modern political restriction of ‘English’ as opposed to American of the United States; thus applied to (1) all persons of Teutonic descent (or who reckon themselves such) in Britain, whether of English, Scotch, or Irish birth; (2) all of this descent in the world, whether subjects of Great Britain or of the United States. a. n.

1853 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. Part. (1858) I. xv. 51 Sometimes they stand on the right and the necessity for the European to live by plunder; and sometimes..they concentrate their claim upon the Anglo-Saxon. 1904 Conrad Nostromo ii. vi. 180 It is part of the truth of things which hurts the − what do you call them? − the Anglo-Saxon's susceptibilities.

b. adj.
Quot. 18711 should perhaps be placed in sense II. b.

1832 R. Choate in Deb. Congress 13 June 3515 The whole circle of the..arts, trades, and branches of manufacture, which characterize the..industry of the Anglo-Saxon race of men. 1840 Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) V. 314 The chief reason stated for the recognition of the pirates, is that they are of the Anglo-Saxon race. 1846 Spirit of Times (N.Y.) 6 June 177/3 The Anglo-Saxon ‘never can acknowledge the corn’ to the cross of negro and Indian. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 143 The Puritan part of the Anglosaxon colony had little right to complain. 1871 ‘L. Carroll’ Through Looking-Glass vii, He's an Anglo-Saxon Messenger − and those are Anglo-Saxon attitudes. 1871 Spect. 22 Apr. 467 England's best alliance would be the free confederation of the English race in every part of the world. Change ‘English’ for ‘Anglo-Saxon,’ and in that sentence lies the policy of the future. 1875 W. James Coll. Ess. & Rev. (1920) 16 But the thing which to our Anglo-Saxon mind seems so outlandish is that crowds of dapper fellows, revelling in animal spirits and conscious strength, should enroll themselves in cold blood as his [sc. Schopenhauer's] permanent apostles. 1888 Kipling in Lett. of Marque (1891) xvi. 119 A snowy-bearded chowkidar..threw himself into Anglo-Saxon attitudes. 1924 R. Graves Mock Beggar Hall 63 Yet commonsense, the Anglo-Saxon flair Seems weakest on its vaunted practical side. 1956 A. Wilson (title) Anglo-Saxon Attitudes.

IV. Used for ‘the English language’. ‘(Of) the English language (of the modern period)’ U.S.; freq. with the implication ‘plain, unvarnished, forthright’. colloq. a. adj.

1859 ‘J. Downing’ Thirty Years out of Senate 10 The best and truest exposition of the peculiar Yankee dialect of the Anglo-Saxon language that there is extant. 1863 C. Lyell Antiquity of Man xxiii. 466 Among the [Germans of Pennsylvania]..I found the newspapers full of terms half English and half German, and many an Anglo-Saxon word which had assumed a Teutonic dress, as ‘fencen’, to fence, instead of umzäunen. 1927 in Amer. Speech (1928) III. 376 Several Laborites were suspended in the House of Commons..to the accompaniment of..the hurling of bald Anglo-Saxon epithets traditionally classed as unparliamentary. 1927 Sat. Rev. Lit. 23 Apr. 772/4 All nine of the tabooed Anglo-Saxon monosyllables. 1958 Spectator 31 Jan. 133/2 The Bishop was reported in reputable newspapers as having said (and in more Anglo-Saxon terms) that he had been reliably informed of the truth of this fact.

b. n.

1866 J. C. Gregg Life in Army xv. 137 Occasionally a word of honest, hearty Anglo-Saxon, or a ‘bit of the brogue’, to remind you that you are not in Naples, but in New Orleans. 1872 H. A. Wise Seven Decades of Union 141 He [sc. Senator Leigh of Virginia] was a purist in his Anglo-Saxon. 1917 in Amer. Speech (1929) IV. 271, I like your stilted style best Jack. When you descend to the Anglo Saxon you get too much in dead earnest. 1926 Amer. Speech I. 265/1 Specimens of the jargon daily spoken by witnesses believing they talk pure Anglo-Saxon. 1927 Yale Rev. Jan. 414 Tell me what you forget and I will tell you what you are, says the psycho-analyst. But I can do this, too, and in plain Anglo-Saxon. The man who insists on telling me what he forgets is a fool. 1947 K. Malone in Word Study Oct. 2/2 In current speech Anglo-Saxon often means plain English. In this use, the word has Latin for antonym.

codex

Pl. codices ("k@UdIsi;z). [a. L. cZdex, later spelling of caudex trunk of a tree, wooden tablet, book, code of laws.]

†1. = code n.11, 2. Obs.

1581 Mulcaster Positions xl. (1887) 228 In the fourth booke of Iustinians new Codex, the thirtenth title. 1622 Fletcher Sp. Curate iv. vii, The codexes o' th' law. 1659 Gentl. Call. iv. §24. 408 The whole codex of Christian precepts. 1753 Scots Mag. Sept. 460/1 A new codex, or body of the laws.

2. A manuscript volume: e.g. one of the ancient manuscripts of the Scriptures (as the Codex Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, Vaticanus, etc.), or of the ancient classics.

1845 M. Stuart O.T. Canon viii. (1849) 185 Account for the speedy loss or destruction of most codices once in circulation. 1875 Scrivener Lect. Text N. Test. 26 Tischendorf's great discovery, the Codex Sinaiticus. Ibid. 59 The characters in Codex B are somewhat less in size than those of Codex A.

3. ‘In medicine, a collection of receipts for the preparation of drugs’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.); spec. the French Pharmacopœia.

codicology

[ad. Fr. codicologie, f. L. cZdic- stem of codex + -ology.]

The study or science of manuscripts and their interrelationships. Hence codico'logical a., codico'logically adv.
Used mainly by continental writers, when writing in English, as a calque on G. Handschriftenkunde.

1953 D. C. C. Young in Scriptorium VII. 7 If the suggestion that O [= MS. Vat. gr. 915] for Theognis is by Gregoras be accepted, much may follow for the codicology of the other texts in O. Ibid. 3 A codicological inventory of Theognis manuscripts. 1964 L. Bieler in Studia Evangelica III. 328 Many of these manuscripts have recently been described and analysed ‘codicologically’ by Dr. Patrick McGurk. 1968 PMLA LXXXIII. 25/1 It is codicologically indivisible from the preceding pieces and in the same script. 1970 Times Lit. Suppl. 21 May 568/2 The recent development of ‘codicology’, which Greg would have subsumed under bibliography − the study of manuscripts as physical objects in order to identify the workshops that produced them.

comitatus

[L., collective deriv. of comes, comit-em, companion, count.]

1. A body of comites or companions; a retinue of warriors or nobles attached to the person of a king or chieftain. b. The status or relationship of such a body to their chief.

1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. I. vi. 152. The development of the comitatus into a territorial nobility seems to be a feature peculiar to English History. Ibid. I. vi. 160 The Danish jarl..seems to have been more certainly connected by the tie of comitatus with his king than the Anglo-Saxon ealdorman. 1875 Maine Hist. Inst. v. 138 The first aristocracy springing from kingly favour consisted of the Comitatus or Companions of the King.

2. An (English) county; as in the legal phrase posse comitatus, q.v.

diphthong

Forms: 5–6 diptong(e, (dypton), 6 dyphtong, diphthonge, -gue, 7–9 dipthong, 8 dipthongue, 6– diphthong. [a. F. diphthongue, earlier dyptongue, ad. L. diphthong-us, a. Gr. d¬uhocco|, adj. having two sounds, n. a diphthong, f. di-, d¬| twice, doubly + uh¾cco| voice, sound.]

A union of two vowels pronounced in one syllable; the combination of a sonantal with a consonantal vowel. The latter is usually one of the two vowels i and u, the extremes of the vowel scale, which pass into the consonants y, w. When these sounds, called by Melville Bell glides, follow the sonantal vowel, the combination is called a ‘falling diphthong’, as in out, how, boil, boy; when they precede, the combination is a ‘rising diphthong’, as in It. uovo, piano. It is common in the latter case to consider the first element as the consonant w or y. 1483 Cath. Angl. 100/2 A Diptonge [MS. A. Dypton], diptongus. 1530 Palsgr. 213/2 Diphthonge, diphthongue. a1637 B. Jonson Eng. Gram. v, Dipthongs are the complexions, or couplings of Vowells. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 15 I and u according to our English pronunciation of them, are not properly Vowels, but Diphthongs. 1749 Power Pros. Numbers 9 All Dipthongs are naturally long. But in English Numbers they are often short. 1876 C. P. Mason Eng. Gram. (ed. 21) §17 When two vowel sounds are uttered without a break between them, we get what is called a vocal or sonant diphthong. 1888 J. Wright O.H. German Prim. §10 All the OHG. diphthongs..were falling diphthongs; that is, the stress fell upon the first of the two elements. 1892 Sweet New Eng. Gram. 230 If two vowels are uttered with one impulse of stress, so as to form a single syllable, the combination is called a diphthong, such as (oi) in oil.

b. Often applied to a combination of two vowel characters, more correctly called digraph1. When the two letters represent a simple sound, as ea, ou, in head (hEd), soup (su;p), they have been termed an improper diphthong: properly speaking these are monophthongs written by digraphs.

1530 Palsgr. 15 This diphthong ou..in the frenche tong shalbe sounded lyke as the Italians sounde this vowell u. c1620 A. Hume Brit. Tongue (1865) 10 We have of this thre diphthonges, tuae with a befoer, ae and ai, and ane with the e befoer, ea. 1668 Price in A. J. Ellis E.E. Pronunc. i. iii. (Chaucer Soc.) 125 That is an improper dipthong that loseth the sound of one vowel. There are eight improper dipthongs, ea ee ie eo, ea oo ui, ou obscure as in cousin. 1876 C. P. Mason Eng. Gram. (ed. 21) §17 When two of the letters called vowels are written together to represent either a sonant diphthong or a simple vowel sound, we get a written diphthong or digraph. Ibid. §25 The same letter or diphthong often represents very different vowel sounds.

c. esp. In popular use, applied to the ligatures æ, œ of the Roman alphabet. As pronounced in later L., and in modern use, these are no longer diphthongs, but monophthongs; the OE. ligatures æ and œ always represented monophthongs.

1587 Harrison England ii. xix. (1877) i. 312 Waldæne with a diphthong. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. To Rdr. Aij, I write the Latine..as I find it..E vocall for E diphthong, diphthongs being but lately come into use. 1702 Addison Dial. Medals (1727) 20 We find that Felix is never written with an œ dipthongue. 1756-7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III. 222 The epitaph, in which the dipthong æ, according to the custom of those times, is expressed by a single e..Vitam obiit VII Id. Oct. etatis sue ann. I. & L.

d. transf. Applied to a combination of two consonants in one syllable (consonantal diphthong), especially to such intimate unions as those of ch (tS) and dg or j (dZ), in church, judge.

1862 M. Hopkins Hawaii 65 The Hawaiian alphabet..is..destitute of consonant diphthongs. 1889 Pitman Man. Phonogr. (new ed.) §64 The simple articulations p, b, t, d, etc. are often closely united with the liquids l and r, forming a kind of consonant diphthong..as in plough..try.

e. attrib. = diphthongal.

1798 H. Blair Lect. I. ix (R.), We abound more in vowel and diphthong sounds, than most languages.

dittography

[f. as dittogram + -graphy; cf. Gr. dissocqauoÊlemom a double reading.]

In Palæography and Textual Criticism: Double writing; the unintentional repetition of a letter or word, or series of letters or words, by a copyist. So "dittograph, a letter or series of letters thus repeated; ditto"graphic a., of the nature of a dittograph.

1874 T. H. Key Language 407 note, The letters in italics stand, probably, for probeidem, i.e. a dittograph for probe and pridem. 1876 H. Sweet A.S. Rdr. Notes (1879) 202 The ge may be merely a scribal error − a repetition (dittography) of the preceding ge. 1882 Athenæum 7 Oct. 456/3 They committed errors through confusing sounds..through dittography and repetition of letters. 1885 Ibid. 11 July 46/2 If the H of JEJAOH is considered as dittographic of the H of the word HOIT which precedes. 1889 Sat. Rev. 26 Jan. 108/1 Mistakes that arose from the haplography, dittography, homœoteleuton, and all the other malfeasances of the much-abused Scribes. 1893 J. Cook Wilson in Classical Rev. Feb. 34/1 OÌde¬| before ugri may be a dittograph of oÌd\ e® after ugri.

hengest

Obs.

A male horse; usually a gelding. (Also the proper name of the reputed founder of the Saxon or Jutish kingdom of Kent; and in various place-names, as OE. Hengestesbróc, Hengestesgeat, Hengesteshéafod, Hengestesige, now Hinxbrook, Hinxgate, Hinxhead, Hinksey.) a1000 Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 274/8 Cabullus, hengest. c1000 Ælfric Voc. Ibid. 119/37 Canterius, hengst. 1002 in Dipl. Angl. Ævi Sax. (Th.) 548 An hundred wildra horsa, and xvi. tame hencgestas. c1205 Lay. 3546 Ich bi-tæche þe anne hængest, godna and strongna.

palaeography

Also (chiefly U.S.) paleo-. [ad. mod.L. palæographia (Montfaucon, title Palæographia Græca 1708), f. palæo-, paleo- + Gr. -cqau¬a -graphy. Cf. F. paléographie (1708).]

1. Ancient writing, or an ancient style or method of writing. 1822 Q. Rev. XXVI. 195 Dr. Young..whose acuteness and learning seem calculated to subdue the difficulties of Palæography. 1857 Birch Anc. Pottery (1858) I. 197 Judging from the palæography of the inscriptions, they may have been in use from the age of Augustus to that of..Severus. 1900 G. C. Brodrick Mem. & Impressions 255 Freeman..thought it a waste of time for an historian to grub in palæography.

2. The study of ancient writing and inscriptions; the science or art of deciphering and determining the date of ancient writings or systems of writing.

1818 in Todd. 1840 Penny Cycl. XVII. 149/1 The study of antient documents, called by modern antiquaries ‘Palæography’. 1859 Gullick & Timbs Paint. 100 The art of deciphering ancient writings, or palæography. 1885 Sir E. M. Thompson in Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 143 Palæography is the study of ancient handwriting from surviving examples. So palæograph ("p&li;@grA;f, -&-, "peI-) [see -graph], (a) an ancient writing; (b) = next [= F. paléographe]; palæ"ographer, one who studies or is skilled in palæography; palæo"graphic, -ical adjs., of or pertaining to palæography, or ancient writing (hence palæo"graphically adv., in relation to palæography); palæ"ographist = palæographer. 1864 Webster, *Paleograph, an ancient manuscript. 1894 A. Lang in Contemp. Rev. Aug. 169 The great French palæograph and historian. 1850 C. T. Newton Ess. in Archæol. 12 The researches of the *Palæographer of classical antiquity embrace a far wider field than those of the mediæval Palæographer. 1881 Hartshorne Glance 20th C. 21 A Greek Codex..believed by palæographers to belong to the third century. 1846 Worcester, *Paleographic. 1858 J. Prinsep (title) Essays on Indian Antiquities, Historic, Numismatic, and Palæographic. 1842 Brande Dict. Sci. s.v. Palæography, The most valuable compilation of *palæographical knowledge is to be found in the Traité de Diplomatique of the Benedictines of St. Maur, 6 vols. 4to. 1748. 1846 Ellis Elgin Marb. II. 135 One of the most celebrated palæographical monuments in existence. 1869 Deutsch in Academy 11 Dec. 83/2 Both these Phoenician characters, though to be distinguished *palaeographically only by the length and the bend of the tail, have a very distinct existence. 1882 Athenæum 29 July 139/2 The reading..is..palæographically impossible. 1846 Worcester, *Paleographist, one versed in paleography. T. Rood. 1880 Antiquary May 227/1 MSS...declared by Roman palæographists to be unpublished compositions of St. Thomas Aquinas.

vellum

Forms: a. 5 velym, 5–6 velyme, 5, 7 velim, 6 velime, velem, 7 vellem. b. 5, 7 velum, 5–7 velume (7 velumne), 7– vellum. c. 7 velom, 7–8 vellom. d. 7 velame, 7–8 velam, vellam. [ad. OF. velin (vellin, veelin, etc.; mod.F. vélin), f. vel veal n., with change of n to m as in pilgrim, venom.]

1. A fine kind of parchment prepared from the skins of calves (lambs or kids) and used especially for writing, painting, or binding; also, any superior quality of parchment or an imitation of this. vegetable vellum: see vegetable a. 7. a c1440 Promp. Parv. 508/2 Velyme, membrana. c1449 Pecock Repr. i. xv. 81 That Holi Writt mai be take for the outward lettris writun and schapun vnder dyuerse figuris in parchemyn or in velim. 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 80b, That stouffe that we wrytte vpon, and is made of beestis skynnes, is somtyme called parchement, somtyme velem. 1598 R. Haydocke tr. Lomazzo ii. 127 The Painters vse general groundes..; saue vpon paper, parchment or velime. 1644 Direct. Publ. Worship Ord. 3 A fair register book of velim. fig. 1611 J. Davies (Heref.) To Worthy Persons Wks. (Grosart) II. 62/1 Vpon th' unspotted vellem of thy face Nature hath printed characters of grace. b 1474 Caxton Cheese iii. iii. (1883) 93 The Notayres, skynners, coryours, and cardewaners werke by skynnes and hydes, As parchemyn, velume, peltrye and cordewan. 1499 Croscombe Church-w. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc.) 24 A mass boke of velum lymmyde. a1586 Sidney Astr. & Stella Sonn. xi, A childe..With gilded leaues or colourd velume playes. 1616 Drummond of Hawthornden Flowers of Sion, Bk. World, But sillie wee (like foolish Children) rest Well pleas'd with colour'd Velumne. 1699 Bentley Phal. xvi. 506 And without doubt it was immortal Vellum, and stoln from the Parchmentes of Jove. 1700 Congreve Way of World v. iii, I have an old fox by my thigh that shall hack your instrument of ram vellum to shreds, sir! 1710 J. Clarke tr. Rohault's Nat. Philos. (1729) I. 243 The Retina [of an artificial eye] was made of a very white thin Piece of Vellum. a1781 R. Watson Philip III, iii. (1839) 159 The deed..was written on paper, and not on vellum, as was usual in all transactions of importance. 1819 Keats Fall Hyperion i. 5 Pity these have not Trac'd upon vellum or wild Indian leaf The shadows of melodious utterance. 1855 Mrs. Gaskell North & S. iii, The Paradise of Dante in the proper old Italian binding of white vellum and gold. 1875 Scrivener Lect. Gk. Test. 16 The durable fine vellum of our oldest extant codices. fig. 1784 Cowper Task i. 569 The sportive wind blows wide Their flutt'ring rags, and shows a tawny skin, The vellum of the pedigree they claim. c 1601 Hakewill Van. Eye xxii. (1615) 110 [To] beholde the heavens, and in them (as in large characters drawn in faire velom) the glory of their maker. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing i, One of the first Books Printed on Paper; (that of Tully being on Vellom). 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Parchment, What we call Vellom is only Parchment made of the Skins of abortive Calves, or at least of sucking Calves. d 1600 Fairfax Tasso xiv. lxxvi, The house is builded like a maze within,..The shape whereof plotted in velam thin I will you giue. 1617 Barbier Jan. Ling. 114 He cancelled a line in the margent of the velame. 1632 Quarles Div. Fancies ii. xiii, Hee..Whose milk-white Vellam did incurre No least suspition of a Blurre. 1706 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 258 A MS. in velam. 1715 Ibid. V. 130 King Henry the VIIIth's Primer upon Vellam. fig. 1631 Massinger Emperor East iv. iv, Can you think This master peece of heauen, this pretious vellam, Of such a puritie and virgin whitenesse, Could be design'd to haue periurie, and whoredome,..writ vpon 't?

2. A piece or sheet of this material; a manuscript or testimonial written on vellum.

c1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 204 A froward velym upon to wryt. 1687 Death's Vision (1713) 2 note, Like a Velum upon the Head of a Drum. 1878 G. Vigfusson Sturlunga Saga I. p. clx, A quarto of 200 leaves when entire (about the largest size ever reached by an Icelandic vellum). 1900 Westm. Gaz. 15 Oct. 6/3 He and his brother..received the vellum of the Royal Humane Society for their plucky conduct.

3. attrib. and Comb. a. Attrib. in the senses ‘made of, resembling, of the nature of, bound in, vellum’. 1565 Golding Ovid's Met. iv. 507 With shere and velume wings. 1570 Dee Math. Pref. aj, All these, liuely designementes..be in velame parchement described. 1586 Hooker Hist. Irel. in Holinshed II. 94/1 He ought rather to make sute for some good vellam parchment for the ingrossing thereof. 1636 Davenant Platonick Lovers iv. i, Not all thy Leathern, nor thy Vellum friends, those dead companions on thy Shelves shall be more faithful [etc.]. 1651 Cleveland Poems 46 Who place Religion in their Velam-ears; As in their Phylacters the Jews did theirs. 1707 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 330 A very Ancient Vellam MSt. 1740 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 216 Mr Longman has already furnished me with a vellum-book of white paper. 1820 Lamb Elia i. South-Sea House, The costly vellum covers of some of them [sc. books]. 1882 M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal III. v. 88 A large vellum envelope.

b. Comb. With pa. pples., as vellum-bound, -covered.

1837 Dickens Pickw. iv, With vellum-covered books under their arms. 1856 Lever Martins of Cro' M. 605 A square vellum-bound book, with massive silver clasps. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt (1868) 11 Her writing-table, with vellum~covered account-books on it.

c. Special Combs.: vellum-binder (see quot. 1858); vellum-binding, the process or trade of binding account-books; also attrib.; vellum cloth, tracing-cloth; †vellum mode (see mode n. 11, quot. 1795); vellum paper, a paper made to imitate vellum; hence vellum-papered adj.; vellum post (see quot.); vellum thunder poet., the noise made by the parchment of a drum.

1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Vellum-binder, a book~binder who covers books with vellum, and makes account~books. 1891 Pall Mall G. 20 Nov. 3/1 Three of them are concerned with the bookbinders − that is, the binders of printed books − and the fourth with the vellum-binders, the technical name for account-book binders. 1835 J. Hannett Bibliopegia iii. (Heading) 139 Of Stationery, or *Vellum Binding. 1891 Pall Mall G. 20 Nov. 3/1 As soon as it was known that the bookbinders were going to concede the eight hours, several of the best vellum-binding firms conceded it also. 1888 Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 151 *Vellum laid paper, a laid writing paper with a vellum surface. Ibid., Vellum wove paper, a wove writing paper with a vellum surface. 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. (1883) 73 Look at..the..*vellum-papered 32 mo. 1847 Webster, *Vellum~post, a peculiar sort of superior writing-paper. 1716 Gay Trivia ii. 18 Here Rows of Drummers stand in martial File, And with their *Vellom-Thunder shake the Pile. Hence "vellumy a., relating to or resembling vellum. 1846 Worcester, citing Ec. Rev. 1925 H. A. Maddox What Stationer & Printer ought to know about Paper (ed. 3) i. 14 There are smooth vellums which derive their title from..a vellumy thickness and clarity of appearance.

Viking

Also vikingr, -er, -ir; wiking, wicking. [ad. ON. and Icel. víking-r (whence also Norw., Sw., Da. viking, G. wiking), = OE. wícing, OFris. witsing, wising. Cf. also ON. and Icel. víking fem., the practice of marauding or piracy. The ON. word is commonly regarded as f. vík creek, inlet, bay, + -ingr -ing3, a viking thus being one who came out from, or frequented, inlets of the sea. The name, however, was evidently current in Anglo-Frisian from a date so early as to make its Scandinavian origin doubtful; wícingsceaða is found in Anglo-Saxon glossaries dating from the 8th century, and s-wícingas occurs in the early poem of Exodus, whereas evidence for víkingr in ON. and Icel. is doubtful before the latter part of the 10th cent. It is therefore possible that the word really originated in the Anglo-Frisian area, and was only at a later date accepted by the Scandinavian peoples; in that case it was probably formed from OE. wíc camp, the formation of temporary encampments being a prominent feature of viking raids.]

1. One of those Scandinavian adventurers who practised piracy at sea, and committed depredations on land, in northern and western Europe from the eighth to the eleventh century; sometimes in general use, a warlike pirate or sea-rover.

a 1807 G. Chalmers Caledonia I. iii. iii. 341 At the age of fourteen, Torfin commenced his career, as a vikingr. c1827 W. Motherwell Poet. Wks. (1847) 13 It is a Vikingir Who kisses thy hand. 1838 Crichton Scandinavia I. 176 Hákon commanded the intrepid Vikingr to be put to death. 1864 [H. W. Wheelwright] Spring & Summer in Lapland i. 8 When the ‘Viking’ or pirate vessel..bore the ‘Vikinger’ or dreaded sea pirate to the opposite shores of Britain. b 1840 Longfellow Skeleton in Armour iii, I was a Viking old! 1848 Lytton Harold vi. v, A fleet of vikings from Norway ravaged the western coasts. 1877 Black Green Past. xxviii, I am already convinced that my ancestors were vikings. c 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1877) I. iv. 165 He [Rolf] is described as having been engaged in the calling of a wiking. 1868 Ibid. II. vii. 96 The wikings harried far and wide. 1883 Vigfusson & Powell Corpus Poet. Bor. II. 139 The warden of the land had the heads of many Wickings (pirates) cut short with keen weapons. 1904 E. Rickert Reaper 53 Beyond that, we were Wickings, back to the time of Odin.

2. attrib., as viking age, expedition, invader, line, ship, vessel.

1847 I. A. Blackwell Mallet's Northern Antiq. 86 Halfdan enriched himself by successful Viking expeditions. 1864 [see 1a]. 1866 G. Stephens Runic Mon. I. 226 The lower compartment is a noble Wiking-ship. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1877) I. App. 665 He may have joined the Danes or have done anything else in the wiking line. 1881 Daily News 3 Sept. 2/2 This Viking ship, with its sepulchre chamber, in which the Viking had been buried. 1883 Vigfusson & Powell Corpus Poet. Bor. I. 259 The Northmen confederates of the Wicking invaders. 1889 P. B. Du Chaillu Viking Age I. iii. 26 We must come to the conclusion that the ‘Viking Age’ lasted from about the second century of our era to about the middle of the twelfth.

Hence "Vikingism, "Vikingship, the practices or spirit of vikings. 1880 Stubbs Lect. Stud. Hist. (1886) 222 The conquest of Palestine was to Robert of Normandy..a sanctified experiment of *vikingism. 1899 Somerville & Ross Irish R.M. 239, I prefer their total lack of interest in seafaring matters to the blatant Vikingism of the average male.

1883 G. Stephens Bugge's Stud. Northern Mythol. Exam. 15 *Wikingship began to be felt..as an unbearable curse.

West Saxon

Also West-Saxon. [f. west a. + Saxon n. and a., after OE. West-seaxan pl.]

A. n. 1. pl. The division of the Saxons in England occupying the area south of the Thames and westward from Surrey and Sussex; also sing. an individual belonging to this group or area.

1387 Trevisa Higden VI. 403 Plegmundus..ordeyned..fyve [bishops] to þe lond of Giweysys, þat beeþ West Saxons. 1432-50 tr. Higden VII. 99 Edmunde Irensyde..subduede to hym the Westesaxons anoon. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 155 The thyrde [realm] was West Saxons, famous and myghty. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 232 Aidan winnis the feild vpon the Pechtis and Westsaxonis. a1643 Baker Chron. (1653) 7 The third Kingdome of the Heptarchie, was of the West Saxons. 1714 Addison Spect. No. 569 31, I was the other Day with honest Will. Funnell the West Saxon. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Money, Ina King of the West-Saxons. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xxxviii. (1787) III. 618 note, Cerdic, the West Saxon. 1877 Tennyson Harold iv. i, Thou art but a West-Saxon: we are Danes!

2. The dialect of Old English used by the West Saxons.

1844 Garnett in Proc. Phil. Soc. II. 17 The plural..totally unknown in West-Saxon. Ibid. 18 The discrepancies from the ordinary West-Saxon are specified. 1876 Sweet Ags. Reader p. xii, The West Saxon of the eleventh century differs in many respects from that of Alfred's reign. 1893 A. C. Champneys Hist. English 85 Northumbrian retains some very ancient forms not found in West Saxon.

B. adj. Of or pertaining to, characteristic of, the West Saxons or their speech.

1570 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1576) 20 Kent was vnited by King Egbert..vnto the Westsaxon Kingdome,..and..gouerned after the Westsaxon law. 1670 Milton Hist. Brit. iii. 121 Before the West-Saxon Kingdome. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 231/2 During the West Saxon, Anglo-Saxon, and Anglo-Danish dynasties. 1848 Latham Eng. Lang. (ed. 2) 91 The Psalter also exhibits this West-Saxon form. 1876 Sweet Ags. Reader p. xii, The old Northumbrian poems were also copied in the West Saxon dialect. 1893 A. C. Champneys Hist. English 86 The Southern or West Saxon plural, -aþ. Hence †West-"Saxonry, the kingdom of the West Saxons. 1650 C. Elderfield Civil Right of Tythes x. 70 Kenulph King of West-Saxon-rie.

palimpsest
A. n.

Also 7–8 in L. or Gr. form. [ad. L. palimpsUstus n., a. Gr. pak¬lwgrso| scraped again, pak¬lwgrsom a parchment whence writing has been erased, f. p0kim again + wgrs¾|, from w0x, wžm to rub smooth.]

†1. Paper, parchment, or other writing-material prepared for writing on and wiping out again, like a slate. Obs. [So It. palimsesto (Florio).]

1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 7 The chalked skinne for a palimpsestus, serving in stead of a table book. 1662 Evelyn Chalcogr. (1769) 52 In writing, the use of the palimpsestus..and the like. 1706 Phillips, Palimpseston,..a sort of Paper or Parchment, that was generally us'd for making the first draught of things, which might be wip'd out, and new wrote in the same Place.

2. A parchment or other writing-material written upon twice, the original writing having been erased or rubbed out to make place for the second; a manuscript in which a later writing is written over an effaced earlier writing.

1825 Gentl. Mag. XCV. i. 348 Monsignore Angelo Mayo..celebrated for his discoveries in the ‘Palimpsestes’. 1838 Arnold Hist. Rome I. 256 note, The Institutes of Gaius..was first discovered..in a palimpsest, or rewritten manuscript of..works of S. Jerome, in the Chapter Library at Verona. 1875 Scrivener Text N. Test. 18 To decipher a double palimpsest calls for the masterhood of a Tischendorf. fig. 1845 De Quincey Suspiria Wks. 1890 XIII. 346 What else than a natural and mighty palimpsest is the human brain? 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh i. 826 Let who says ‘The soul's a clean white paper’ rather say A palimpsest..defiled. 1879 Lewes Study Psychol. viii. 153 History unrolls the palimpsest of mental evolution. 1918 D. H. Lawrence New Poems 33 Darkness comes out of the earth..Wanes the old palimpsest. 1929 Oxford Poetry 17 The world is all a palimpsest That hails the spurious pugilist. 1949 ‘G. Orwell’ Nineteen Eighty-Four i. iv. 42 All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and re-inscribed exactly as often as was necessary. 1962 R. Page Educ. Gardener x. 294 In Italy every town and house..is a palimpsest of two or three thousand years of building and decay. 1977 Times 3 Sept. 9/1 Alan Watts will be principally remembered as the architect of that peculiar theological palimpsest which served as an ideology for the hippie generation: that odd blend of rural fundamentalism and eastern mysticism.

3. A monumental brass slab turned and re-engraved on the reverse side.

1876 Encycl. Brit. IV. 219/2 A large number of brasses in England are palimpsests, the back of an ancient brass having been engraved for the more recent memorial. 1877 L. Jewitt Half-hrs. among Eng. Antiq. 132 They were frequently laid down to other persons, or re-engraved on the other side, and hence called palimpsests.

B. adj.

1. (Applied to a manuscript) Written over again; of which the original writing has been erased and superseded by a later: see A. 2.

1852 H. Rogers Ecl. Faith (1853) 237 A friend who used to mourn over the thought of palimpsest manuscripts. 1875 Poste Gaius Pref. (ed. 2) 5 The codex is doubly palimpsest, i.e. there are three inscriptions on the parchment. 1898 R. Harris in Expositor Dec. 402 It is useless to apply reagents in search of palimpsest writing where the vellum has only been used once. fig. 1873 W. Cory in Lett. & Jrnls. (1897) 308 The pretty song, rising one will never know how, from a palimpsest memory.

2. Of a monumental brass: see A. 3.

1843 Archæologia XXX. 124 Palimpsest brasses are also found at Berkhampstead. 1877 J. C. Cox Ch. of Derbysh. III. 241 This monument is a remarkable..example of the palimpsest or re-used brass.

3. Petrogr. Of a rock: partially preserving the texture it had prior to metamorphism. Also in Geol., exhibiting features produced at two or more distinct periods.

1912 R. W. Clark tr. Weinschenk's Petrogr. Methods x. 198 In the normal case the newly developed substance is confined strictly to the border of the original crystal, but the texture of the altered rock may be recognized excellently, palimsest [sic] structure. 1926 G. W. Tyrrell Princ. Petrol. xvi. 271 (caption) A palimpsest structure. Garnetiferous biotite-hornfels... Shows alternations of psammitic and pelitic sediments preserved, although the rock is thoroughly hornfelsed with the production of muscovite and biotite. 1951 Turner & Verhoogen Ign. & Metamorphic Petrol. xx. 503 It frequently happens..that fabric relicts (palimpsest structures), like mineral relicts, survive metamorphism and provide valuable indications of the parentage of the metamorphic rock. 1962 A. D. Howard in Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists XLVI. 2255/1 A particularly interesting part of the anomaly is the drainage pattern, an unusual superposition of modern and ancient patterns that is convenient to refer to as palimpsest. In palimpsest drainage, the modern pattern is anomalous with respect to the older; it clearly indicates different topographic and possibly structural conditions at the time of development. 1972 D. J. P. Swift et al. Shelf Sediment Transport xxiii. 499 The floor of the central and southern Atlantic shelf is a palimpsest or multiple imprint surface. Hence "palimpsest v. trans., to make into a palimpsest, to write anew on (parchment, etc.) after erasure of the original writing; palimp"sestic a., that is, or that makes, a palimpsest. 1823 New Monthly Mag. VIII. 13 Discoveries..of Palimpsestic parchments had not yet furnished fresh matter for research. 1836 F. Mahony Rel. Father Prout, Songs Horace i. (1859) 376 Thy MSS. have come down to us unmutilated by the pumicestone of palimpsestic monk. 1900 Expositor June 420 We may wonder less at this Sinaitic..codex having been palimpsested.

fit, fytte

Forms: 1 fitt, 4–5 fyt(t, 4–6 fitt(e, 5–6, 9 fytte, 5–8 fit. [OE. fitt str. fem. = OS. *fittia, preserved in latinized form in the preface to the Hêliand: ‘Juxta morem vero illius poematis, omne opus per vitteas distinxit, quas nos lectiones vel sententias possumus appellare’. Some regard the word as identical with OHG. fiza list of cloth, mod.Ger. fitze skein of yarn, also explained in the 17th c. as ‘the thread with which weavers mark off a day's work’; the sense ‘division or canto of a poem’ might well be a transferred use of this. The Ger. word corresponds to ON. fit str. fem., hem, also ‘web’ of a bird's foot:—OTeut. *fitjâ, of unknown origin: see remarks under next n.]

1. A part or section of a poem or song; a canto.

c888 K. Ælfred Boeth. xxxi. §1 (Gr.) Se wisdom þa þas fitte asungen hæfde. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 139 Cumse[þ] þer a Fitte. c1386 Chaucer Sir Thopas 177 Lo, lordes, heer is a fyt; If ye wil eny more of it, To telle it wol I fonde. a1400-50 Alexander 5626 Now fynes here a fitt & folows a nothire. c1450 Bk. Curtasye 349 in Babees Bk. 309 Of curtasie here endis þe secunde fyt. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. xxvi. (Arb.) 65 This Epithalamie was deuided by breaches into three partes to serue for three seuerall fits or times to be song. 1771 Johnson Let. to Langton 20 Mar. in Boswell, Dr. Percy has written a long ballad in many fits. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. i. xciii, Here is one fytte of Harold's pilgrimage. 1864 Skeat Uhland's Poems 213 The first ‘fytte’ here is ended.

2. A strain of music, stave. Also, to dance a fit.

a1500 Iak & his step dame in Herrig's Archiv XC. 78, I shall yow shewe of my gle: Ye shall haue a fytte. ?a1548 King Estmere 243 in Percy Reliq. (1765) I. 68 To playe my wiffe and me a fitt. c1550 R. Wever Lusty Iuventus in Hazl. Dodsley II. 48, I would fain go dance a fit. 1578 Gude & G. Ball. (1868) 182 Sa sall thay pype ane mirrie fit. 1673 True Worship God 65 An afternoon Sermon..many times..serves only like a fit of Musick, to Lull them asleep after their Dinner. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 611 Come now, strike up and give us a fit.

folio

Also 7 follio. [a. L. foliZ, abl. of folium leaf. Branch I proceeds from the med.L. use of the ablative in references, though in sense 2 the word may be a. It. foglio. In branch II the phrase in folio is either a. Lat. or a refashioning of the Italian in foglio. Cf. the use of in folio in Fr. both in sense 5b and as n. = sense 7.] \

A. n. I. With reference to pagination. 1. A leaf of paper, parchment, etc. (either loose as one of a series, or in a bound volume) which is numbered only on the front. In the early instances the word may have been regarded as Latin. The front and back of the leaf were referred to as (folio) recto and verso; these words became Eng. as ns.

1533 T. More Debell. Salem Wks. 958/2 The .xlv. Chapiter of mine Apology beginnyng, Folio .243. 1548 W. Stanford Kinges Prerog. ix. (1567) 35a, There it appeares folio .285. allso. 1585 Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. Turkie, Table, The first number signifieth the chapter, the second the folio. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. ii. xvii. marg., Place this between folio 202. and folio 203.

2. In Bookkeeping, The two opposite pages of a ledger or other account-book in which these are used concurrently; hence used for a page of a ledger in which one page serves for both sides of an account, and sometimes for a page of an account book generally.

1588 Mellis Briefe Instruct. Cv, The number of the leafe or folio of your Creditor. 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 364 The Leaves or Folio of the Leidger. 1849 Freese Comm. Class-bk. 109 A narrow column, for the figures which denote the Folio, where each account will be found in the Ledger.

3. The page-number of a printed book.

1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc. II. 376 The Corrector and Compositer..examine..how the Folio's of those Pages properly and numerically follow and succeed one another. 1841 Savage Dict. Print., When there is a running title, the folios are placed at the outside corners of the pages.

4. Law. A certain number of words (in Gt. Britain and Ireland 72 or 90, in U.S. generally 100) taken as a unit in reckoning the length of a document. Many legal documents of 16th c. are found to be written in pages of 12-15 lines, each containing 6 words. This is doubtless the origin of the above sense.

1836 Sir H. Taylor Statesman xxiii. 169 Paying persons in the rank of life of law-stationers and their hired writers at the rate of so much per folio. 1848 Wharton Law Lex., Folio, a certain number of words; in conveyances, &c., amounting to seventy-two, and in Chancery proceedings to ninety.

II. With reference to size.

5. in folio, a phrase signifying ‘in the form of a full-sized sheet folded once’. Orig. apprehended as a Latin phrase, used appositively or attributively; afterwards as consisting of an English prep. and n.

1582 Parsons Def. of Censure 148, I haue two editions in greeke: the one of learned Pagnine in folio, the other of Plantyne in octavo. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. i. ii. 192 Deuise Wit, write Pen, for I am for whole volumes in folio. 1644 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 89 That rare book in a large folio. 1679 Bp. of Hereford Coll. Jesuits 4 Divinity Books..in Folio and Quarto. 1763 Massey Orig. of Lett. ii. 59 All the curious hands..engraved on 28 brass plates in folio. 1819 Blackw. Mag. Oct. 29, I asked her if she would have it in folio, with marginal notes? 1837-9 Hallam Hist. Lit. I. iii. i. §148. 250 The more usual form of books printed in the 15th century is in folio.

b. transf. and fig.; spec. in a full and loose dress. Obs. exc. dial.

1590 Greene Neuer too late (1600) 96 His lippes were of the largest sise in folio, able to furnish a Coblers shoppe with clowting leather. a1613 Overbury A Wife &c. (1638) 133 Many ride poast to Chandlers and Tobacco shops in folio. a1625 Fletcher Love's Cure ii. ii, I had rather walke In folio again, loose, like a woman. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Jack-a-Lent 114/1 When a mans stomacke is in Folio, and knowes not where to haue a dinner in Decimo sexto. 1651 Lilly Chas. I (1774) 244 The scorns..he saw now returned upon himself in folio. 1670 R. Lassels Voy. Italy ii. 7 It [Rome] hath its Hospitals..and many of those are Hospitals in folio. 1698 Vanbrugh Prov. Wife v. (1710) 95 Cuckoldom in Folio, is newly printed: and Matrimony in Quarto, is just going into the Press. 1828 Craven Gloss. (ed. 2) s.v., ‘In full folio’, in full dress.

6. A sheet of paper when folded once. Also, †such a sheet used for a specific purpose.

1616 Bullokar, Folio, a sheete or large leafe of paper. 1691 Evelyn Diary 16 Apr., Severall folios of dried plants. 1710 Addison Tatler No. 216 35 To his Daughter..I bequeath..my large Folio of Indian Cabbage. 1876 J. Gould Letter-press Printer 40 Folio denotes a sheet of paper folded into two leaves.

7. A volume made up of sheets of paper folded once; a volume of the largest size.

1628 Earle Microcosm. Sergeant (Arb.) 57 He swels them [Bookes] into Folio's with his Comments. 1713 Swift Frenzy J. Dennis Wks. 1821 XIII. 211 The gentleman..let drive at us with a vast folio. 1826 Scott Woodst. iii, Tomkins began to turn the leaves of a folio, which lay open on the reading-desk. 1867 Stubbs Benedict's Chron. I. Pref. 24 The other manuscript..is a small folio. transf. and fig. 1659 D. Pell Impr. Sea 286 The little decimo sextos..the small fish..as well as..the great folios of the Whale, and Elephant. 1813 Byron Jrnl. 16 Nov. in Moore Life (1833) I. 541 This same lady writes octavos, and talks folios. 1885 Pall Mall G. 25 July 3/2 The London police − those folios in dark blue, lettered, and uniform.

b. attrib. and Comb.

1712 Addison Spect. No. 529 31, I have seen a folio writer place himself in an elbow chair, when [etc.]. 1849 Sir J. Stephen Eccl. Biog. (1850) II. 37 They lower, in the sullen majority of the folio age, over the pigmies of this duodecimo generation. 1879 Dowden Southey iii. 78 He received from his Lisbon collection precious boxes folio-crammed.

B. adj.

1. Formed of sheets or a sheet folded once; of the largest size; folio-sized. Often following the n.; cf. A. 5.

1597-8 Bp. Hall Sat. ii. i. 29 With folio volumes, two to an oxe hide. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. xi. 404 Small Pocket-Bibles, and a great Folio-Alchoran. 1680 Evelyn Diary (1850) II. 147 A folio MS. of good thickness. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc. II. 231 If it be a large Folio Page ..he..has Tyed up. 1728 Pope Dunc. i. 139 A folio Common-place Founds the whole pyle, of all his works the base. 1802 Dibdin Introd. Classics 26 There are some Folio editions of this beautiful work. 1808 Scott Autobiog. in Lockhart Life i, I remember writing upwards of 120 folio pages with no interval either for food or rest. 1870 Dickens E. Drood ii, The folio music-books on the stand. Mod. A history in ten volumes folio. fig. 1622 J. Taylor (Water P.) Water-cormorant, Separatist 21 These fellowes with their ample folio graces. a1839 Praed Poems (1864) I. 366 A minute will supply To thought a folio history Of blighted hopes.

2. Printing and Stationery. (See quots.)

1871 Amer. Encycl. Print., Folio Post, a flat writing-paper, usually 17 by 22 inches. 1888 Jacobi Printers' Voc., Folio chase, a chase with one bar only. 1890 I Printing ii. 32 In the wooden kinds we have slip, octavo, quarto, and folio galleys. Ibid. 42 These chases are often divided or subdivided into folio or quarto by means of cross-bars.

transcription

[ad. L. transcriptiZn-em, n. of action f. transcrWbSre to transcribe, or a. F. transciption (16th c. in Godef. Compl.).]

1. a. The action or process of transcribing or copying. Also fig.

1598 Florio, Trascrittione, a transcription, a writing, or copying out. 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God 548 The error was committed in the transcription of the copy from Ptolomies library. 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. 93 By a diligent comparing of Copies upon every transcription. 1762 J. Kennedy Compl. Syst. Astronom. Chronol. ad fin., Evidence which no transcription can corrupt. a1848 R. W. Hamilton Rew. & Punishm. i. (1853) 43 We might take the Decalogue and trace its transcription upon the soul of man. 1858 J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. (1873) III. iv. xi. 416 Manual labour..applied to the transcription and multiplication of books..was a method of instruction.

b. Transliteration.

1869 Farrar Fam. Speech i. (1873) 10 He succeeded in demonstrating the law of transcription, and for the first time reading these names in their proper form. Ibid. 24 The transcription into Russian letters.

2. The product of this process; a transcript; a copy.

1650 Vind. Hammond's Addr. §88 Besides this transcription, there is but one passage.., to which he thinkes fit to make reply. 1657 Rumsey Org. Salutis Ep. Ded. (1659) 11 Most medicinal Books are usually but bare transcriptions from former Writers. 1696 Phillips (ed. 5), Transcription, a Writing copied, or transcribed. 1882-3 Schaff's Encycl. Relig. Knowl. I. 116/2 A transcription of the work, made in the beginning of the third century.

3. Mus. The arrangement, or (less properly) modification, of a composition for some voice or instrument other than that for which it was originally written; an instance of this, a transcribed piece.

1864 in Webster. 1878 E. J. Hopkins in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 21/1 Variations or adaptations like the popular ‘Transcriptions’ of the present day. 1885 Athenæum 26 Dec. 851/1 To the musicianly ear the term ‘transcription’ has generally an unpleasant sound, because it frequently bears reference to some uncalled-for distortion of a composer's original idea.

4. Roman Law. A transfer, assignment (of a debt or obligation); = L. transcriptio.

1677 Owen Justif. Wks. 1851 V. 170 This he [Paul] did by the transcription of both the debts of Onesimus to himself. 1880 Muirhead Gaius iii. §129 There is transcription from thing to person when, for example, I enter to your debit a sum you already owe me by reason of a purchase, a conduction, or a partnership.

5. a. A gramophone record made from a secondary source, not the master recording.

1931 Gramophone Dec. 264/2 ‘Transcriptions’, too, for which our unkind readers used to prefer the phrase ‘faked records’, are not very popular over here. 1968 Jazz Monthly Feb. 4/1 Numerous ‘pirate’ labels also issuing EPs and LPs,..tend increasingly to concentrate on air shots and transcriptions from a variety of sources.

b. Broadcasting. The recording of a broadcast for subsequent reproduction; a record or broadcast so made. Also attrib.

1932 B.B.C. Year-bk. 1933 290 The relaying of the Empire station by overseas transmitters cannot for various reasons be assumed to be possible as a regular practice and therefore the recording of programmes on gramophone discs becomes an important subsidiary method of programme circulation... American programmes are already circulated by this method, which is termed ‘electrical transcription’. 1936 Communication Mar. 5 (heading) The growing importance of transcription broadcasting. Ibid. 6/2 The transcriptions in every-day use in broadcast stations include both lateral-cut and vertical-cut recordings. 1943 B.B.C. Year-bk. 23 An important broadcasting activity little known in this country is the projection overseas, by means of recordings, of the culture and wartime life of Britain... Known collectively as the London Transcription Service, the activity has been undertaken by the BBC for the Empire since the beginning of the war, and for foreign countries for nearly two years. 1956 B.B.C. Handbk. 1957 42 English by Radio lessons..reach an audience of several millions by direct transmission from London, by relays, and by transcription recordings. Ibid. 133 Among other transcriptions, the special service for Colonial schools..proved successful. 1978 A-Z of BBC (ed. 2) 225/2 Transcription services are the BBC's channel for selling Radio Programmes to stations overseas.

c. Used attrib. to designate equipment used in professional recording or broadcasting transcription, or gen. of a standard or type so used.

1936 Communication Mar. 8/2 Noise in the output of a transcription equipment is often caused by pickup of the motor vibration. 1943 Proc. I.R.E. Feb. 52 (heading) The measurement of transcription-turntable speed variation. 1957 Long Playing Record Library Catal. & Handbk. 10 The only answer..is the use of a ‘transcription motor’, implying a high standard of design and finish and individual care in manufacture. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 271 The large transcription tape decks are normally equipped to play either type. 1965 Wireless World Aug. 6 (Advt.), The Goldring-Lenco GL 70 transcription unit with its integrally mounted transcription arm continues to be the first choice of discriminating record lovers with custom-built equipment. 1978 Lancashire Life Nov. 110/1 (Advt.), All the illustrated units are complete music centres with Dolby cassette deck-belt driven transcription unit.

6. Biol. The process by which genetic information represented by the sequence of nucleotides in the DNA of a cell or virus is copied into molecules of RNA, which are synthesized with the DNA serving as a template; reverse transcription, the reverse process, occurring in some RNA viruses, by which DNA is synthesized from an RNA template.

1961 Jacob & Monod in Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quantitative Biol. XXVI. 193/1 The second process, which we shall call transcription, allows the gene to perform its physiological function. 1970 Nature 27 June 1198/1 For the past twenty years the cardinal tenet of molecular biology has been that the flow or transcription of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA and then its translation to protein is strictly one way. 1971 [see promoter 1g]. 1973 Sci. Amer. Apr. 34/2 In prokaryotes, which include the many species of bacteria, transcription and translation of messenger RNA occur at the same time and place. 1977 Nature 8 Sept. 122/1 Until recently..most groups studying reverse transcription in vitro found the DNA products to be small relative to the size of the RNA templates. Hence tran"scriptional a., of, pertaining to, or of the nature of transcription; tran"scriptionally adv., on transcriptional grounds; also, in Biol., in a transcriptional way. 1881 Westcott & Hort Grk. N.T. Introd. §29 Transcriptional Probability is not directly..concerned with the relative excellence of rival readings, but merely with the relative fitness of each for explaining the existence of the others. 1905 J. R. Harris in Expositor Sept. 166 Traces of such transcriptional errors. 1907 H. S. Cronin in Eng. Hist. Rev. Apr. 294 Both Latin versions must have had some transcriptional history. 1911 K. Lake Earlier Ep. St. Paul 419 The omission is transcriptionally slightly the more probable reading. 1970 Nature 29 Aug. 910/1 A similar mechanism controls gene expression at the transcriptional level during bacterial sporulation. 1975 Ibid. 5 June 462/2 This transcriptionally active DNA represents r-protein genes. 1981 L. L. Mays Genetics ix. 416 The prokaryotic systems that operate via transcriptional control often utilize different control systems. 1983 Nature 23 June 677/1 Transcriptionally active chromatin.

transliterate

[f. trans- 1 + L. littera letter, written symbol + -ate3.]

trans. To replace (letters or characters of one language) by those of another used to represent the same sounds; to write (a word, etc.) in the characters of another alphabet. Hence trans"literated ppl. a. 1861 Max Müller in Sat. Rev. 9 Mar. 247/1 Not only proper names, but the technical terms also of the Buddhist creed, had to be preserved in Chinese. They were not to be translated, but to be transliterated. But how was this to be effected with a language which, like Chinese, has no phonetic alphabet? 1861 G. Moore Lost Tribes 158, I transliterate the words into modern Hebrew letters. 1871 Earle Philol. Eng. Tongue §190 To master this alphabet and transliterate passages of English into it. 1884 American VII. 378 The transliterated pages and the Devanagari can be kept in sight at the same time.

scriptorium

Pl. scriptoria, -iums. [med.L. f. L. script-, scrWbSre to write: see -orium.]

A writing-room; spec. the room in a religious house set apart for the copying of manuscripts. 1774 T. West Antiq. Furness Expl. Ground Plan, H, the chapter-house, over which were the library and scriptorium. 1828 H. Angelo Remin. (1830) I. 66 The attics or scriptoriums of the poets of the last age. 1874 Green Short Hist. iii. §1 (1882) 113 Writing-rooms or scriptoria, where the chief works of Latin literature..were copied and illuminated. 1907 Times, Lit. Suppl. 18 Jan. 17/1 Drowsy intelligences and numbed fingers in a draughty scriptorium, will easily account for deviations.

linguistic

[f. linguist + -ic. Cf. F. linguistique.]

A. adj. a. Of or pertaining to the knowledge or study of languages. Also used for: Of or pertaining to language or languages; = lingual 4b. The latter use is hardly justifiable etymologically; it has arisen because lingual suggests irrelevant associations.

1856 C. J. Ellicott in Cambr. Ess. 187 Orthographies..and..the veriest minutiæ of linguistic differences. 1858 J. M. Mitchell Mem. R. Nesbit i. 12 His linguistic talent was logical as much as philological. 1860 Marsh Eng. Lang. i. (1862) 2 The most striking improvement in linguistic study may be dated from the discovery..of the Sanskrit. 1876 C. M. Davies Unorth. Lond. 31 In a linguistic point of view the peoples were one. 1911 V. Welby Significs & Lang. v. 17 The implicitly false mental image, source of the false linguistic image. 1921 E. Sapir Lang. vi. 156 In a book of this sort it is naturally impossible to give an adequate idea of linguistic structure. 1935 B. Malinowski Coral Gardens II. vi. v. 232 Within the linguistic theory of the present book, in which the distinction between ‘form’ and meaning is in the last instance illusory. 1936 J. R. Kantor Objective Psychol. Gram. xiii. 195 It is undoubtedly necessary to include many other speech parts if we are to cover linguistic phenomena adequately. 1953 J. B. Carroll Study of Lang. i. 5 It was only natural..that the engineer should have perceived the possibilities of developing various sorts of ‘linguistic machines’, such as a machine for instantly converting human speech into..printed alphabetic symbols. 1957 W. Haas in Studies in Ling. Analysis (Philol. Soc.) 33 ‘Zero’ in Linguistic Description stands for what is acoustically nothing. 1957 G. Ryle in C. A. Mace Brit. Philos. in Mid-Cent. 263 Philosophical problems are linguistic problems − only linguistic problems quite unlike any of the problems of philology, grammar, phonetics..etc., since they are..about the logic of the functionings of expressions. 1964 M. A. K. Halliday et al. Ling. Sci. i. 18 If language is described according to the version of linguistic theory outlined, the task of the language learner..will be made easier. 1966 English Studies XLVII. 270 Instead of adverb transforms we find occasional instances of ‘linguistic shortening’, which in itself is a means of expressing emotiveness. 1967 R. Textor Cross-Cultural Summary 67 The rationale for including linguistic affiliation is..that ‘genetic relationships in culture and past historical connections among societies are commonly revealed..among the languages spoken by the peoples in question’. 1968 D. Hymes in Internat. Encycl. Social Sci. 366/2 Linguistic description has focused on the form of languages, neglecting the structuring of their use. 1968 Chomsky & Halle Sound Pattern Eng. i. 4 The essential properties of natural language are often referred to as ‘linguistic universals’. 1972 L. R. Palmer Descr. & Compar. Ling. ix. 227 Sound laws do not enable us to predict linguistic events as a law of chemistry predicts material change.

b. Special collocations: linguistic analysis, (a) the analysis of language structures in terms of some theory of language; (b) Philos., analysis of language as the medium of thought; so linguistic analyst; linguistic anthropology, anthropological research based on the study of the language of a selected group; so linguistic-anthropological adj.; linguistic atlas, a set of tables or maps recording regional or dialectal variations of pronunciation, vocabulary, or inflexional forms; linguistic form, any unit or pattern of speech that has meaning; linguistic geography, the study of the geographical distribution of languages, dialects, etc.; so linguistic geographer, linguistic-geographical adj.; linguistic map, a map in a linguistic atlas; a map showing the distribution of linguistic features; linguistic philosophy = linguistic analysis (b); so linguistic philosopher; linguistic psychology, the study of human psychology through the data provided by language; cf. psycholinguistics; linguistic science, the science of language; the systematic study of linguistic phenomena; so linguistic scientist; linguistic stock, the group to which a set of related languages belongs.

1932 A. F. Bentley Let. 15 Nov. in Ratner & Altman J. Dewey & A. F. Bentley (1964) 51, I have at length found a region of investigation in which some tentative results can be secured, and I am permitting myself to send you a copy of the resulting book, *Linguistic Analysis of Mathematics. 1943 Amer. Speech XXVII. 60/1 Outline of linguistic analysis. 1945 Mind LIV. 195 Positivists, as is well known, do not search for answers to the philosophical questions; what they try to bring about, in all cases, is the disappearance of the questions by means of what they call linguistic analysis. 1949 Amer. Speech XXIV. 55 His charts make it possible to suggest the potentialities of ‘slur’ as a factor in linguistic analysis. 1957 J. R. Firth in Studies in Ling. Analysis (Philol. Soc.) p. vi, Palatograms, kymograms..specifically keyed to the linguistic analysis. 1966 J. J. Katz Philos. of Lang. iii. 16 The leading philosophical movements..have concerned themselves with what they call ‘linguistic analysis’. 1945 Aristotelian Soc. Suppl. Vol. XIX. 7 If anyone was ever a ‘*linguistic analyst’, surely Socrates was. 1957 G. Ryle in C. A. Mace Brit. Philos. in Mid-Cent. 263, I gather that at this very moment British philosophy is dominated by some people called ‘linguistic analysts’. 1962 Listener 17 May 851/1 You might well meet a philosopher described as a linguistic analyst. 1964 E. A. Nida Toward Sci. Transl. iii. 36 The *linguistic-anthropological approach to meaning has in many respects paralleled developments in symbolic logic, though the immediate area of study in the two fields is different and the approach seemingly quite divergent. 1968 D. Hymes in Internat. Encycl. Social Sci. 354/2 Through Boas the interest became an intrinsic part of American *linguistic anthropology. 1923 H. R. Lang in Romanic Rev. XIV. 264 It will be clear from this that the study of the charts of this *linguistic atlas affords a deep insight into the various phases of the decline of the dialects of Italy. 1930 Dialect Notes VI. ii. 67 The Linguistic Atlas of New England will provide an organized collection of the present forms of the spoken language. 1939 Amer. Speech XIV. 64/2 Ten sets of 300 phonograph records representing all the present dialects of Germany. Recorded by Telefunken under the auspices of the Linguistic Atlas. 1952 Dieth & Orton (title) A questionnaire for a linguistic atlas of England. 1954 G. Bottiglioni in Martinet & Weinreich Ling. Today 261 The way in which the plan of a linguistic atlas is organized and carried out. 1975 Times 6 Jan. 4/7 The next project will be the publication of a complete linguistic atlas which will trace on maps not only the use of specific words but of dialect sounds as well. 1921 E. Sapir Lang. iv. 62 *Linguistic form may and should be studied as types of patterning, apart from the associated functions. Ibid. vi. 127 In dealing with linguistic form, we have been concerned only with single words and with the relations of words in sentences. 1943 Amer. Speech XVIII. 228 The flier forced down in Libya.., would have little interest in the linguistic form of the utterance, ‘I am an American’, in Arabic but he might forfeit his life by not knowing how to say it. 1964 M. A. K. Halliday et al. Ling. Sci. i. 20 The least obvious distinction perhaps is that between grammar and lexis, since these are two aspects of linguistic form. Ibid. ii. 21 When we describe linguistic form..we are describing the meaningful internal patterns of language. 1952 Word VIII. iii. 275 Who but Rohlfs combines a background of solid 19th century German scholarship with a thorough training as a *linguistic geographer? 1948 Neophilologus XXXII. 175 In the absence of English *linguistic-geographical data, no more than tentative suggestions regarding the relation between English and its Continental cognates are as yet possible. 1926 Germanic Rev. I. iv. 281 *Linguistic geography, as geography, is an aspect of human geography. 1930 Dialect Notes VI. ii. 74 A course in the methods and the interpretation of the results of linguistic geography. 1933 Linguistic geography [see historical a. 2d]. 1934 H. Kurath in Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. LXXIV. 228 Linguistic geography undertakes to ascertain the distribution of linguistic features (dialectal features). 1939 I (title) Handbook of the linguistic geography of New England. 1