Wordie [wûrd • ē]
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first listed by:
Samme (1178 words)
appears in these lists:
Samme's Words, by Samme
EyE>>cEE.b.s., by whichbe
D, by georgielily
eloise's Words, by eloise
katiad's Words, by katiad
Chromonyms, by mollusque
day and night, by adrift
Benandanti, by Treeseed
gtss's list, by gtss
dandy's list, by dandy
Reds, by markdruskoff
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OED2 gives the Shakespeare quotation from 1599 as its earliest example for the noun; the verb is recorded from 1499. "Dawning" as a noun dates to 1297 and comes from "dawing" recorded circa 900.
Henry V, IV, I has:
...Not all these, laid in bed majestical,
Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave,
Who with a body fill'd and vacant mind
Gets him to rest, cramm'd with distressful bread;
Never sees horrid night, the child of hell,
But, like a lackey, from the rise to set
Sweats in the eye of Phoebus and all night
Sleeps in Elysium; next day after dawn,
Doth rise and help Hyperion to his horse,
And follows so the ever-running year,
With profitable labour, to his grave...
I remember hearing once that the noun form of dawn was first used by Shakespeare in one of his plays. I can't find any information online that would directly supports this. I can only find indirect support with Online Etymology stating that the noun version was first recorded in 1599. Does anyone else know anything about this?