Middle English Dictionary Entry
accidentāl adj.
Entry Info
| Forms | accidentāl adj. |
| Etymology | ML |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) Phil. Not a natural or essential part of a thing, non-essential, incidental, secondary; (b) not inherent in a thing, induced from without; (c) ?growing out of something else, ?outward, external.
Associated quotations
a
- (c1390) Chaucer CT.Mel.(Manly-Rickert)B.2588 : The fer cause is almyghty god..The neer cause is thy thre enemys, The cause accidental was hate.
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)130a/b : Som fourme is essencial & som accidental..but eueryche fourme accidental nediþ a fourme substancyal þat is cause of fourme accidentalis.
- (1435) Misyn FL (Corp-O 236)48/19 : Slyke warkis langis to accidentale reward, þat is, ioy of þinge wroght.
- (c1443) Pecock Rule (Mrg M 519)144 : Bisidis þis essencial and princypal joie..we schulen haue oþere accidental joies or secundarie joies, of which þis is oon, þat we schulen haue myche and cleer kunnyng of hiȝe and priue and wondirful curiose and subtil trouþis.
- c1450(?c1408) Lydg.RS (Frf 16)703 : The vertu sensytif..Conceyvynge in hys entent Foreyn thinges accidental..As ben colours and figures.
- c1475(c1445) Pecock Donet (Bod 916)91/23 : Accidental ioies natural in heuene, þat is to seie, suche þat bi oure natural powers mowe þere be geten and be aȝen lost.
b
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)112a/a : Þe planetis meueþ..by accidental meuynge & rauyschinge of þe firmament out of þe est in to þe west, & by kynde meouynge.
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)251a/a : Brede þerof is þe more hoote..for þe kynde hete þerof is ystrengþed by accidental hete of þe fuyrre.
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)255b/b : Þe hete and druyenesse þerof [of wine] is kyndelich, and moysture and colde þerof is accidental.
- c1450 Metham Palm.(Gar 141)84/15 : Ther be in creaturys handys, lynys and tokynnys of the qwyche sum be accydental and sum be natural. Accydental lynys..be causyd off hete or of cold or of laboure.
- (1451) Capgr.St.Gilb.(Add 36704)70/30 : He wered no mo clothis in Wyntir þann in Somyr..alle hete was drawe fro him, both natural and accidental, þat for discoumfort sumtyme his body was ny contract.
c
- (1386) RParl.FM (C&D)36 : Sithen thise wronges bifore saide han ben vsed as accidental or comune braunches outward, it sheweth wel the rote of hem is a ragged subiect or stok inward, that is, the forsaid Brere or brembre.
2.
Med. Out of the normal course of nature, pathological; ~ thing of the soul, a mental or emotional disturbance.
Associated quotations
- ?a1425 *Chauliac(1) (NY 12)122a/b : Depilyng naturale as caluiciez i. ballednesse, & vnberdyng of enuchez i. gildyngez & wymmen, Or accidentale [L accidentalis] of a cause soldyng and cicatrizing þe skyn.
- ?c1425 *Chauliac(2) (Paris angl.25)65a/a : It haþ nouȝt only to drye þe accidental i. straunge or vnkyndely moysture, but also þe natural moysture þe whiche floweþ þerynne.
- ?c1425 *Chauliac(2) (Paris angl.25)141b/a : Þe accidental i. vnkyndely deefnesse þe whiche is made in a feuere.
- c1450 Royal SSecr.(Roy 18.A.7)20/32 : Good phisiciens and wise philesofris..mowe telle the of suche accidentalle maters, and so maist thou kepe thyn helthe.
- ?a1475(?a1425) Higd.(2) (Hrl 2261)2.215 : The accidentalle thynges [L accidentia] of the sawle punnysche and transmute the body, soe in lyke wise the passiones of the body redunde in to the perturbacion of the sawle.
- a1500 Craft Dying (Rwl C.894)410 : They þat dyen not be nature & course of age..but..thorow an accidentall seknesse.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
- c1450 Peniarth Accedence(2) (Pen 356B)9/36 : What ys a qualite accidentall in a noun? A qualyte accidentall in a noun ys a propurte to acorde to on þyng kyndely all only, and so hyt is a propur qulite, as 'Petrus,' 'Willelmus,' 'Iohannes,' or to many, and þen hit is a comyn qualite, as 'homo.'
Note: New sense
Supplemental Materials (draft)
- ?c1400(1379) Daniel *Treat.Uroscopy (Roy 17.D.1)f.18ra (1.4) : Þat accidentale hete, i. þat vnkynd hete, parbrakeþ and discraseþ þe body, i. distempereþ & vndisposeþ þe body and mynuseþ, i. lesseþ þe humidite of þe blode, and þan þe vryn is rede.
Note: Antedates sense 2. Editor's gloss: 'unnatural, pathological'.