Abstract
This article examines the Middle English and Latin word formations of Bishop Reginald Pecock (d. 1459). In particular, it addresses the false assumption that Pecock was intentionally writing in an English that was primarily Germanic in etymology. The article concludes that Pecock’s lexical innovations were primarily Latinate, that he was unlikely to be concerned with the “purity” of his word formation, and that it was highly unlikely that he was trying to eschew Latinate vocabulary. These conclusions were ascertained through a comprehensive assessment of Pecock’s vocabulary which shows that Pecock created 715 new words out of a total estimated vocabulary of 7273 words. To put it another way, roughly 10 % of Pecock’s vocabulary was composed of neologisms of his own making. Finally, it demonstrates that the lexical practices that Pecock puts to work in his English word formations are also at work in his Latin word formations.
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Notes
Most of his books were presumably burned at two book burnings following his conviction of heresy in 1457 at St. Paul’s Cross and Oxford University, respectively (“Reginald Pecock (c. 1392–c. 1495), bishop of Chichester,” Scase 2004).
‘Wyclif’ is in single quotes because at the time of E.V. Hitchcock’s writing, editors believed that a number of English Wycliffite texts were by Wyclif himself. Hitchcock was likely working from the Select English Works of John Wyclif (1869–71) ed. Thomas Arnold and English Works of Wyclif (1880) o.s. 74 ed. F.D. Matthew. Anne Hudson, however, in “Some Aspects of Lollard Book Production” demonstrated that there is little evidence to support Wyclif as the author of these English language texts (1982, p. 186).
It is unclear what proportion of Pecock’s works were in Latin and which were in English. Pecock makes internal references to approximately forty-nine different works. (It is occasionally unclear whether some books of slightly different titles are the same work or not.) Eleven of those works are in English; fifteen are in Latin; twenty-three are of unknown language.
Patrouch, Reginald Pecock, p. 52. Actually, Patrouch incorrectly read the footnote; he thought that those were words for which the NED did cite Pecock as the first attested use.
There is a problem with the OED regarding this citation. Its bibliography has a number of authors by the name of J. Hamilton, but none have the title Certane orthodox and catholik conclusions vith yair probations that the citation claims is now the third earliest (after the two Pecock references) of the word orthodox. The likely author of this book is Archbishop John Hamilton, for whom the OED cites three other works, and who was alive and writing at the time Certane orthodox and catholik conclusions, etc. was composed.
OED, May 25, 2012.
OED, May 25, 2012.
In the case of out-, the OED observes that it is a common substitution for the Latin prefix ex-, especially in the works of Wyclif (or rather, English language Wycliffite texts since there are no surviving English-language texts by Wyclif.) (out-, prefix, OED).
Bounded morphemes are morphemes that cannot stand as independent lexical units whereas unbounded morphemes are morphemes that can. For example, over- may serve as an affix or as an independent word; un- may serve only as an affix but not as an independent word.
"calque," OED.
“Repressor” probably refers to Pecock himself instead of the book. Pecock is the only author attested for this form in the MED, though the form continues to be used well into the modern day. Although the MED’s definition of “Something which suppresses or curbs something” implies that the agent is an inanimate rather than animate form, historical usage implies the opposite. As a lexical form, “repressor” is attested in Classical Latin sources as well as medieval Latin sources. In both instances, the repressor is “one who checks or restrains, repressor” (DML). It is likely that Pecock simply borrowed the Latin form for English use.
See Hogg and Denison, A History of the English Language (2006, pp. 256–258).
The Abrenunciacio (c. 1447–1449) may be found in two modern print editions: the Appendix to Chuchill Babington’s Repressor of Overmuch Blaming of the Clergy (1860) where it is titled Abbreviatio … and in the Appendix to Wendy Scase’s biography of Pecock (1996), where it may be found under the title used herein. Scase makes the argument that Babington misread the original manuscript—it is quite illegible—and that the actual title and meaning behind the title is one of warning not of abridgment (1996, p. 96).
Scase discusses this issue in full (1996, pp. 95–99).
My thanks go to Henry Ansgar Kelly for assistance with the translations.
References
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Smith, J.A.T. English and Latin Lexical Innovations in Reginald Pecock’s Corpus. Neophilologus 100, 315–333 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-015-9457-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-015-9457-1