Middle English Dictionary Entry
pāgan(e n.
Entry Info
| Forms | pāgan(e n. Also pagain, paigan. |
| Etymology | L pāgānus n. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
A person of non-Christian or non-Jewish faith, heathen, pagan.
Associated quotations
- c1440(?a1400) Morte Arth.(1) (Thrn)4046 : I sall..euer pursue the payganys þat my pople distroyede.
- c1450 De CMulieribus (Add 10304)186 : I, a woman of Cristes feith and byleve, See a Pagane in vertu more shynynge.
- ?a1475(?a1425) Higd.(2) (Hrl 2261)2.281 : The goddes, that paganes [Trev.: payenis; L pagani] do worschippe were men somme tyme.
- ?a1475(?a1425) Higd.(2) (Hrl 2261)5.441 : Penda, a pagan [Trev.: Penda paganus]..havynge 1 ti. yere in age, began to reigne.
- c1425(?c1400) Wycl.Apol.(Dub 245)106 : Þe grekis had hem þat we callen pagaynis, her most honorable philosophurs, sowtars.
- a1500(1422) Yonge SSecr.(Rwl B.490)167/22 : The lowe of Iusticia..regnnyd in Prynces that Paganes where in olde tyme moche more than hit dothe now in oure crystyn Prynces.
- a1500(1422) Yonge SSecr.(Rwl B.490)199/22 : He passet in shrewetnesse and malice al the Paganesse and mysbelewynge men.
- a1500(?c1425) Spec.Sacer.(Add 36791)240/7 : I, Edmund, the Cristen man, schal neuer submitte me to hym þat is a pagane vnto the tyme that he be i-made Cristen.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
- ?a1425(?a1350) Castleford Chron.in EStudies 22 (Göt Hist 740)p.49 : Alexandre þe pape…Confermede þar ordre and þar lede Againes þe paighiens armes to bere.
Note: New spelling
Note: Antedates word
Note: May belong to paien n.