yclept
adjUK /ɪˈklɛpt/ · US /ɪˈklɛpt/
Etymology
PIE word *ḱóm From Middle English yclept, ycleped, iclept [and other forms] (i-, y- (prefix forming past participles) + clepen (“to say, speak, utter; to call, shout; to name; to address; to appeal to, beg, pray; to ask, request; to appear; to send for, summon; to convene; to call forth, induce; to lay claim”) + -ed, -t (suffix forming past participles of weak verbs)), from Old English ġeclypod, ġeclipod (ġe- (suffix forming past participles or participle adjectives) + clypian, clipian (“to call out, cry; to appeal”) (West Saxon) [and other forms] + -od (suffix forming past participles)). Clipian is derived from Proto-Germanic *klipjaną, *klapjaną (“to be noisy; to chatter”), probably related to *klappōną (“to clap, pound, or strike (especially two things against each other); to make loud noises, especially breathing or pulsating; to chatter”), and ultimately onomatopoeic. Doublet of clap.
- And as I am a Gentleman, betooke my ſelfe to walke: the time When? about the ſixt houre, […] Now for the ground Which? which I meane I walkt vpon, it is ycliped Thy Park.c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
- But com thou Goddes fair and free, / In Heav'n ycleap'd Euphrosyne, […]a. 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 31:
4 more examples
- There is a tall long-sided Dame, / (But wondrous light) ycleped Fame, / That like a thin Camelion Bourds / He[r] self on Air, and eats her words: […]1663 (indicated as 1664), [Samuel Butler], “The Second Part of Hudibras. Canto I.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 106:
- Upon a winged Horſe, Icliped Pegaſus, / Swift as the fiery Racers of the Sun, / ——I fly——I fly—— / See how I mount, and cut the liquid Sky.1687, A[phra] Behn, The Emperor of the Moon. A Farce. […], London: […] R. Holt, for Joseph Knight, and Francis Saunders, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 21:
- [T]here arrived in the Room where the two Ladies were ſitting, a Noiſe, […] more like (for what Animal can reſemble a human Voice) to thoſe Sounds, which, in the pleaſant Manſions of that Gate, which ſeems to derive its Name from a Duplicity of Tongues, iſſue from the Mouths, and ſometimes from the Noſtrils of thoſe fair River Nymphs, ycleped of old the Napææ, or the Naïades; […]1749, Henry Fielding, “A Dreadful Alarm in the Inn, with the Arrival of an Unexpected Friend of Mrs. Fitzpatrick”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume IV, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book XI, page 160:
- Sometimes in consequence of some flagrant villany, he would abscond from the garrison, […] squatting himself down on the edge of a pond catching fish for hours together, and bearing no little resemblance to that notable bird ycleped the Mud-poke.1809, Diedrich Knickerbocker [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “SHEWING HOW PROFOUND SECRETS ARE STRANGELY BROUGHT TO LIGHT; […]”, in A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty. […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: Inskeep & Bradford, […], →OCLC, book VI, page 86: