Snell (again) -- from _The Concise Scots Dictionary_:
3. Of Weather. biting, bitter, severe. late 14thC.
There are 6 adjectival and 3 adverbial meanings listed, but that was the one
I had in mind. (And, looking more closely, other than the adverbial form of
adj. 3 above, the only meaning which is still more than locally current.)
It's also the earliest recorded meaning.
Beyond that, I pass the buck to someone with access to _The Dictionary of
the Older Scottish Tongue_ (multiple volumes, covering => 1700) and _The
Scottish National Dictionary_ (multiple volumes, covering 1700+).
Robin
(the ever-helpful, hirpling off)
[A Qualification on the above, and an aside to Candice: CSD gives the sense
of "active" as dating from late 16thC. However, the OED (Ed2, on CD) gives
this as the +earliest+ meaning, and cites Beowulf:
1. a. Of persons: Quick in movement or action; prompt, smart, active,
strenuous; ?good.
In ME. freq. as a general epithet of commendation. In later Sc. use
tending towards the sense of 'sharp, keen'.
Beowulf 2971 Ne meahte se snella sunu Wonredes ealdum ceorle hondslyht
¼iofan.
-- ¼ in the Beowulf quote above is from the OED yog. I refuse to speculate
whether this should be transcribed in the modern alphabet as "y" or "g" in
this case. Perhaps, Candice ...?]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Candice Ward" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, August 06, 2001 3:04 AM
Subject: Re: HG my name JG my game WS wont same
> Try a search on "snell" in the Brit-Po archives. I can't remember when
> exactly it came up there--relative to McDiarmid, I think--but some listees
> did know what it meant. (Can't remember that either--sorry!)
>
> Candice
>
>
>
> on 8/5/01 9:14 PM, Robin Hamilton at [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> > Matthew:
> >
> >> 'Snell' is a
> >> new word on me.
> >
> > Cold, bitter, chill -- like the wind that cuts Villon to the bone at the
> > beginning of _The Testament_.
> >
> > Robin
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