fenny meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

fenny

adj

US, UK /ˈfɛni/

Etymology From Middle English fenny, fenni (“marshy, muddy; of meat: putrid, rotten; of a person: sinful, vile”), from Old English fenniġ (“dirty; marshy, muddy, fenny”), from fen, fenn (“marsh, fen; mud”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pen- (“moist, wet; mud; swamp; water”)) + -iġ (suffix forming adjectives). The English word is analysable as fen + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives).

Characteristic of or resembling a fen (“characteristically alkaline wetland containing peat below the waterline”); marshy, swampy; also, of land: containing a fen or fens.

[I]nnumerable popingayes of ſundry kindes are found chattering in the groues of thoſe fenny places.1555, Peter Martyr of Angleria [i.e., Peter Martyr d’Anghiera], “The Nynth Booke of the Seconde Decade, of the Supposed Continent”, in Rycharde Eden [i.e., Richard Eden], transl., The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West India, […], London: […] [Rycharde Jug for] Guilhelmi Powell, →OCLC, 2nd decade, folio 83, recto:
[F]or ſo many faire and Nauigable Riuers ſo neere adioyning, and piercing thorovv ſo faire a naturall Land, free from any inundations, or large Fenny vnvvholſome Marſhes, I haue not ſeene, read, nor heard of: […]1624, Richard Grenville, “A Briefe Relation Written by Captaine Smith to His Maiesties Commissioners for the Reformation of Virginia, Concerning Some Aspersions against It”, in Iohn [i.e., John] Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, →OCLC, 4th booke, page 162:

2 more examples

Elephant. Elephantus. […] Their differences are according to place; ſo ſome live in fenny places, ſome on mountaines, ſome in fields, others in vvoods, &c.1661, Robert Lovell, “Tetrapodologia. Of Fourfooted Beasts.”, in ΠΑΝΖΩΟΡΥΚΤΟΛΟΓΙΑ [PANZŌORYKTOLOGIA]. Sive Panzoologicomineralogia. Or A Compleat History of Animals and Minerals, Containing the Summe of All Authors, both Ancient and Modern, Galenicall and Chymicall, …, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Hen[ry] Hall, for Jos[eph] Godwin, →OCLC, page 47:
It is a custom with the northern lovers to divert themselves with a song whilst they journey through the fenny moors to pay a visit to their mistresses.1712 June 26 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “SUNDAY, June 16, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 406; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 9:

Now chiefly of plants: growing or living in a fen.

A fenny gooſe, even as her fleſhe is blacker, ſtoorer, unholſomer, ſo is her feather, for the ſame cauſe, courſer, ſtoorer, and rougher, and therefore I have heard very good fletchers ſay, that the ſecond fether in ſome place is better than the pinion in other ſome.1545, Roger Ascham, Toxophilus, the Schole of Shootinge […], London: […] Edouardi Whytchurch, →OCLC:
Fillet of a Fenny Snake, / In the Cauldron boyle and bake: […]c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 143, column 2:

4 more examples

Of the Indian Dragons there are alſo ſaid to be tvvo kindes, one of them fenny, and liuing in the Marſhes, vvhich are ſlovv of pace and vvithout combes on their heades like females: […]1608, Edward Topsell, “Of the Dragon”, in The Historie of Serpents. Or, The Second Booke of Liuing Creatures: […], London: […] William Jaggard, →OCLC, page 158:
Godvvit. […] they are a fenny fovvl, and live of VVorms, about River banks: […]1661, Robert Lovell, “Ornithologia. Of Birds. [Brids^([sic – meaning Birds]) Lesse Used in Meat or Medicine.]”, in ΠΑΝΖΩΟΡΥΚΤΟΛΟΓΙΑ [PANZŌORYKTOLOGIA]. Sive Panzoologicomineralogia. Or A Compleat History of Animals and Minerals, Containing the Summe of All Authors, both Ancient and Modern, Galenicall and Chymicall, …, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Hen[ry] Hall, for Jos[eph] Godwin, →OCLC, page 181:
The hungry Crocodile, and hiſſing Snake / Lurk in the troubl'd Stream and fenny Brake: […]1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, book I (Knowledge), page 409:
Paths there were many, / Winding through palmy fern, and rushes fenny, / And ivy banks; […]1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] T[homas] Miller, […] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 7, lines 79–81:

Also, Figuratively, Obsolete Muddy; hence, dirty, filthy.

Lord vvhat a nothing is this little Span, / VVe call a Man! / VVhat fenny traſh maintaines the ſmooth'ring fires / Of his desires!1635, Fra[ncis] Quarles, “Canto XIV. Pro[verbs] XXIV. XVI.”, in Emblemes, London: […] G[eorge] M[iller] and sold at at Iohn Marriots shope […], →OCLC, book II, stanza 4, page 118:

Derived terms: Fenny Bridges, Fenny Compton, Fenny Stratford, Sutton Veny