belamy

Middle English

Alternative forms

• bellami, beal ami, bele ami

Etymology

From Middle French bel (“fair”) +‎ amy (“friend”).

Noun

belamy (plural belamies)

1. A good or dear friend.

   "Thou beel amy, thou pardoner," he sayde,
   "Telle us som myrthe or japes right anon."
   - Chaucer, The Pardoner's Prologue, The Canterbury Tales, ll. 318-319
   
   Belamy: amicus pulcher, fayre frynde
   - Geoffrey the Grammarian [attr.], Promptorium parvulorum, c. 1440

References

• “belamy”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “bē̆l-amī, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.