English words first attested in Chaucer
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English words first attested in Chaucer are a set of about two thousand English words that Geoffrey Chaucer is credited as being the first use found today in existing manuscripts. This does not mean that he was the person to introduce these words into English, but that the earliest extant uses of these words are found in Chaucerian manuscripts. The words were already in everyday speech in 14th century England (especially London) and other parts of Europe. The claim is that these words are found for the first time in written manuscripts where he introduced them in one of his extensive works from 1374 - 1400 as the first author to use these particular words. Many of Chaucer's special manuscript words from the 14th century are used today:
absent, accident, add, agree, bagpipe, border, box, cinnamon, desk, digestion, dishonest, examination, finally, flute, funeral, galaxy, horizon, infect, ingot, latitude, laxative, miscarry, nod, obscure, observe, outrageous, perpendicular, Persian, princess, resolve, rumour, scissors, session, snort, superstitious, theatre, trench, universe, utility, vacation, Valentine, veal, village, vulgar, wallet, and wildness.
See also
- Vernacular
- Middle English
- English literature
- Medieval literature
- Middle English literature
- Dictionary of Old English
- Middle English Dictionary
- Oxford English Dictionary
- Shakespeare's influence: Vocabulary