alderliefest
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English alderlevest (“dearest of all”), from alder- (“of all, very”, prefix forming the superlative of adjectives or adverbs)[1] (the genitive plural of al (“all, entirely, utterly, very”)) lefest, levest (“dearest, most beloved”) (from lef, leve (“beloved or dear to someone”)[2] (from Old English lēof (“beloved, dear”, adjective), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“to admire, praise; to covet, desire; to love”)) -est (suffix forming the superlative of adjectives and adverbs)).[3] The English word is analysable as alder- ((archaic) prefix meaning ‘having the greatest degree of something, of all’) lief (“(archaic) beloved, dear”, adjective) -est (suffix forming the superlative of adjectives and adverbs).[4]
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌɔːldəˈliːfɪst/, /ˈɒldəliːfɪst/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɔldəɹˌlifɪst/, /ˈɑl-/
- Hyphenation: al‧der‧lief‧est
Adjective
[edit]alderliefest (not comparable)
- (archaic or obsolete) Often used as an epithet when addressing someone: most beloved.
- 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 120, column 1:
- VVith you mine Alder liefeſt Soueraigne, / Makes me the bolder to ſalute my King, / VVith ruder termes, ſuch as my vvit affoords, / And ouer ioy of heart doth miniſter.
- 1879, John Kingston James, Day Dreams, […], London: […] [Charles Whittingham at the Chiswick Press] for private circulation, →OCLC, page 31:
- Ye alderliefeſt Dublin hills! / On leaving you my full heart fills, / And fill mine eyes with tears, […]
- 1983, Leon Rooke, chapter 1, in Shakespeare’s Dog […], Don Mills, Toronto, Ont.: Stoddart, →ISBN, page 16:
- It would be "my alderliefest this" and "my alderliefest that", enough to make even a dog's toes curl.
Usage notes
[edit]- Common in Elizabethan English (during the reign of Elizabeth I, 1558–1603), where it was already an archaism.
Alternative forms
[edit]Hypernyms
[edit]Translations
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ “[alder]levest” under “alder-, pref.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ “lẹ̄f, adj. & adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ “-est, suf.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ Compare “alderliefest, adj.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2023.
Anagrams
[edit]- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂el- (other)
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *lewbʰ- (love)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms prefixed with alder-
- English terms suffixed with -est
- English 4-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- English terms with archaic senses
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with quotations
- English terms containing fossilized case endings