diarchenu
.
Searchable Lemmata: diarchenu (W).
Alternate Forms: diarchenassant, diarchenwyt.
Definitions and Defining Citations:
1a(vb.)
Utilisation;
to remove one's shoes or footwear.(ante 1300 - circa 1800 ?)
Sex: Male, Female Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: Foot.
1b(vb.)
Utilisation;
to remove one's clothing or armour.(ante 1350 - circa 1800 ?)
Sex: Male, Female Ceremonial: No
Body Parts:
Etymological Evidence:
Definite, GPC explains this word as a compound of the negative prefix di + verb archenu 'to put on shoes' etc; compare diarchenad 'to be unshod' versus archenad 'shoes' (qqv.).
However, GPC only has attestations of the verb archenu from the mid-seventeenth century onwards (some four centuries later than the first appearances of diarchenu); so the present word may in fact be a verb created directly from diarchen(ad), with archenu a later formation. Admittedly, diarchenaff (of the same meaning) is attested for Middle Breton, but this is also unknown before the 16th century.
In the same way that archenad originally meant 'footwear' and later 'clothing' more generally, diarchenu similarly means 'to take off footwear' but also 'to remove clothing, armour'.
WF: Derivation
Etym Cog:
References:
