Middle English Dictionary Entry
wlispen v.
Entry Info
| Forms | wlispen v. Also wlepsen, wh(i)lispen, lispe, lispin, lipse; ppl. wlispinge, etc. & (error) wyspend. |
| Etymology | OE -wlyspian (as in āwlyspian). |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
Note: Cp. lisper n., lisping(e ger.
1.
To speak with a stammer or lisp; also, utter a hissing sound [quot. 1440]; ?articulate slowly or indistinctly [quot. a1398].
Associated quotations
- c1230 Ancr.(Corp-C 402)103/21 : Þe ealleofte hwelp is ifed wið supersticiuns, wið semblanz…as beoren on heh þet heaued, crenge wið swire…wið hond oðer wið heaued makie scuter signe…speoken as an innocent & wlispin [Pep: whlispen] for þen anes.
- a1325 Gloss.Bibbesw.(Cmb Gg.1.1)1085 : En parler bleser [glossed:] wlispen [vr. wlepsen] tut dis Pur meuz pleiser a lur amis.
- c1350 Cmb.Ee.4.20.Nominale (Cmb Ee.4.20)86 : F. bale et bleseie: W. galpyth and wlispyth.
- (c1387-95) Chaucer CT.Prol.(Manly-Rickert)A.264 : Somwhat he lipsed [vrr. lipsede, lisped] for his wantownesse To make his Englissh sweete vp on his tonge.
- (a1398) Trev.Barth.(Add 27944:Seymour)304/20 : And for he can nouȝt speke, þe norse whilispiþ [L balbutit] and souneþ þe wordis to teche þe more esiliche þe child þat can not speke.
- c1400 Femina (Trin-C B.14.40)81 : Þt by pride hem forseþ muche In spekynge alway to lypse.
- ?c1400(1379) Daniel Treat.Uroscopy (Roy 17.D.1)2.3.215,219 (ff.32va-32vb; p.97) : 'Psidius' also is he þat wlispeþ & it oweþ to be writen 'psi-' .. And .. 'psidiare' is to wlispe.
- a1425 *Medulla (Stnh A.1.10)10a/b : Blesus: wlispinge [Cnt: wyspend].
- ?a1425 *Chauliac(1) (NY 12)122a/b : Enuchez, i. geldyngz, ar made not balled ne blesed, i. lispyng, for multitude of humidite of her brayn as seiþ Auicen.
- (1440) PParv.(Hrl 221)306 : Lyspyn yn speche: Sibilo.
- ?c1475 *Cath.Angl.(Add 15562)74b : To lispe; lispynge: blesus.