Yclept

[David Myer]

Came across this in an obscure H.G.Wells book.

Had to look it up of course and found that it simply means 'named'. So I am one of many men yclept David. I think that is a fair use.

But HGWells wrote of Mr Pope as saying: "What will you drink, Mr Wintersloan?" he said. "Wine of the country, yclept beer, red wine from France, or my wife's potent brew from the golden lemon?" So presumably yclept beer is a branded commercial beer rather than a home made one - a named one. So this 1927 book may be an early example of the branding concept. What a pity we ended up with branding instead of yclepting!

[George Kovac]

I first came across "yclept" as a freshman in college reading Chaucer. I enrolled in a very traditional seminar called "Major British Poets: Chaucer to Eliot" which was the oldest continuously taught course in the college (the original syllabus itself predated Eliot by nearly two centuries.) Students were required to pronounce authentically and to recite long passages from memory. Unlike many of the peculiar words I had to master in the Canterbury Tales, I found "yclept" charming in its sound and meaning. I learned that "yclept" was still listed as a viable word in modern English, but I never encountered a usage outside of Middle and Early Modern English. Thanks for the example.

[Perry Lassiter]

Oh surely it still shows up now and then. I don't delve much into ye olde English, nor ME, but I've met "yclept" now and then and likely used it myself, al eit humorously.

[David Myer]

When do you use it, Perry? Give us a sample sentence...

[Perry Lassiter]

Oh most anywhere...I love the way my alma mater, yclept Baylor, is rising in its athletic prowess. Then there was that old possum, yclept Pogo, that amused me for years. We had a science teacher named Culpepper, that we yclept "Cul" during high school. Etc.

[David Myer]

Bravo, Perry, and I shall use it too. It certainly deserves use because as far as I can make out, there are no other words in English that start with a y and are followed by a consonant. Suffixes (yl, yne) abbreviations, proper nouns (Yvonne, Ypres, Yquem) and foreign words (yggdrasil) excluded.

[Slava]

Interesting that the inspiration for this word post came from Wells. Yclept is my brother's favorite word. He uses it quite often in his writing, including his book on Wells.