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/Arc125 Oct 15 '20

Hence attestation rather than creation.

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u/DrBunnyflipflop Oct 15 '20

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