in the twynklyng of an iȝe

Middle English

Alternative forms

• in þe twynklynk of an eiȝe

Etymology

From the Bible, 1 Corinthians 15:52, translating the Latin in ictu oculi, from the Greek ἐν ῥιπῇ ὀφθαλμοῦ.

Prepositional phrase

in the twynklyng of an iȝe

1. (idiomatic) Immediately; instantaneously.
   • c. 1300, Anonymous, St. Bernard's Saws, MS. Digby 86, "Ubi sonnt…":

     And in a twincling of an eye / Hoere soules weren forloren

   • c. 1303, Robert of Brunne, Handlyng Synne, "Sacrylage":

     And, as yn twynkelyng of an ye, / Yn-to þe cherche gun þey flye

   • 1382, 1395, Wycliffe, Bible, 1 Corinthis 15:52:

     In a moment, in the twynklyng of an iye, in the laste trumpe

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 1385, Chaucer, The Compleynt of Mars:

     And then hir Ioye, for oght I can espye, / Ne lasteth not the twinkeling of an ye

   • c. 1387-1400, ———, The Canterbury Tales, "The Clerk's Prologue":

     But deeth, that wol nat suffre us dwellen heer, / But as it were a twynklyng of an ye

Descendants

• English: in the twinkling of an eye

References

• “twinkling(e)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 28 November 2021.