Middle English Dictionary Entry
hōrnes(se n.
Entry Info
| Forms | hōrnes(se n. Also horenesse, harenesse. |
| Etymology | From hōr adj.; also cp. OE hārnes. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) Whiteness or grayness of hair; (b) the honorableness, dignity, wisdom, etc., of old age.
Associated quotations
a
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)67a/a : Of hoornes of heer [L canicie] take hede..hoornesse comeþ of passinge coolde of þe humour þat fediþ & norischiþ þe heer.
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)307b/b : Whanne horenesse bygynneþ in þe roote of þe her, þanne it comeþ of moche fleume.
- a1400 Lanfranc (Ashm 1396)179/26 : If þou wolt saue heeris fro hoornes so þat þei bicome not whit.
- ?a1425 *Chauliac(1) (NY 12)5b/b : Of sikenes of þe heued..of falling of herez and of hornez [*Ch.(2): hoornesse; L canitie].
- ?a1425 *Chauliac(1) (NY 12)123b/b : [This treatment] is best forsoþ to horenez to be blacked.
- 1448 Glo.Chron.C (Arms 58)481 : My lorde the kyng is subruphus, for a colour of worshipfulle age, whiche a litelle harenesse hathe chaunged sumwhat his colour.
- c1450 Trin-C.LEDict.(Trin-C O.5.4)570 : Canicies: hoorenesse.
- (a1460) Bokenham Sts. (Adv Abbotsford B3)70.89 (v.2:p.43) : Marc .. had a longe nose, hangyng browes and bent, fair, ferballid, longe-berdid, mean-aged, sprencled with horenesse, of menable stature.
b
- (a1382) WBible(1) (Dc 369(1))Prov.20.29 : The dignete of olde men hornesse [WB(2): hoornesse].
- (c1384) WBible(1) (Dc 369(2))2 Mac.6.23 : He bigan for to thenke the worthi excellence of age and his eelde and the free born hoorenesse [L ingenitae nobilitatis canitiem], or nobley, and fro childehode of beste lyuynge.
- ?a1425 WBible(2) Gloss.Prov.(Cld E.2)20.29 : Horenesse, that is, the eldnesse and sadnesse of wittis, with hoornesse of the heed.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Med., etc., see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. hoarness.