Talk:acquerne

RFV discussion: May–September 2018

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acquerne

Squirrel. DTLHS (talk) 00:42, 13 May 2018 (UTC)

@DTLHS: Please check (first and last probably refer to the same, but the word seems to have existed) Alexis Jazz (talk) 10:58, 14 May 2018 (UTC)

The 1913 quotation is a mere mention. As for the other two, they look like Middle English rather than modern English. (MED Online indicates that ōc-querne means "the fur of a squirrel", not "a squirrel". Variant spellings are aquerne, aquierne and okerne.) — SGconlaw (talk) 11:06, 14 May 2018 (UTC)

@Sgconlaw: It's (as far as I can tell) indeed not modern English. I don't know if English Wiktionary also covers Middle English? Alexis Jazz (talk) 12:47, 14 May 2018 (UTC)

Yes, the English Wikipedia (theoretically) covers all languages. However, the main header for the entry would have to be changed from "English" to "Middle English", which is treated as a different language from modern English. For examples of such entries, see "Category:Middle English nouns". — SGconlaw (talk) 12:54, 14 May 2018 (UTC)

@Sgconlaw: that should be done, but I don't know if we can just change it or should add an entry for that and remove the current entry with this RfV. Are the requirements for that the same? It seems fairly obvious the Middle English word for "squirrel" would have been used in more than 3 books back then, but we may or may not have online access to any of those. Alexis Jazz (talk) 21:40, 15 May 2018 (UTC)

@Sgconlaw: I misread, acquerne is not the same as aquerne. Alexis Jazz (talk) 01:05, 16 May 2018 (UTC)

@Alexis Jazz: sorry, I'm not following what you mean. — SGconlaw (talk) 19:35, 17 May 2018 (UTC)

@Sgconlaw: I would expect that the Middle English word for "squirrel" would have appeared more than 3 times in books, but that word may be aquerne and not acquerne. Alexis Jazz (talk) 19:40, 17 May 2018 (UTC)

Also, the 1898 and 1920 citations seem to be quoting the same Middle English passage. - -sche (discuss) 14:13, 14 May 2018 (UTC)

Yup. — SGconlaw (talk) 14:55, 14 May 2018 (UTC)

• Incidentally, I believe the normal word for squirrel in ME was squirrel (obviously spelt differently). "Acquerne" may have meant something slightly different – the Dictionary of Middle English defines it as "the fur of a squirrel" (in the same way, perhaps, that otter once meant "the fur of an otter"). Ƿidsiþ 04:28, 22 May 2018 (UTC)
  • Converted to a Middle English entry, as there is no evidence that the word persists in modern English. — SGconlaw (talk) 04:06, 5 September 2018 (UTC)