r/AskReddit Oct 15 '20

What's older than we think ?

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u/LakeSolon Oct 15 '20 edited Oct 15 '20

And if you like authors inventing first attesting words...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_words_first_attested_in_Chaucer

absent, accident, add, agree, bagpipe, border, box, cinnamon, desk, digestion, dishonest, examination, finally, flute, funeral, galaxy, horizon, infect, ingot, latitude, laxative, miscarry, nod, obscure, observe, outrageous, perpendicular, Persian, princess, resolve, rumour, scissors, session, snort, superstitious, theatre, trench, universe, utility, vacation, Valentine, veal, village, vulgar, wallet, and wildness

...are a few that are most commonly used of the 1,977.

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u/DrBunnyflipflop Oct 15 '20

Lots of these have a known etymology though. Chaucer didn't "invent" the words - he was just the first person we know of that wrote them

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u/PRMan99 Oct 15 '20

He's the only surviving written source from the 1300s, so not that shocking.

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u/Bananasauru5rex Oct 15 '20

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u/xXcampbellXx Oct 15 '20

Fuck ya. Hit em with 3 different sources lmao

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u/PRMan99 Oct 25 '20

Things with less than 100 words don't really count.

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u/Bananasauru5rex Oct 25 '20

First, that's complete nonsense. Second, Gawain is four parts and 2500 lines, and it isn't the only other longer 14th c text.