Talk:dovely

RFV discussion: March–April 2019

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dovely

Dove-like. One citation, where the meaning is not really clear ("your dovely dove"). Everything else I can find is scannos for "lovely". Please confirm that the Middle English word in the etymology is not a pure invention too. Equinox ◑ 23:00, 28 March 2019 (UTC)

ENM term is legit: c1450(?c1425) St.Mary Oign.(Dc 114)183/36 : Wiþ an aungels contenauns and douvely sympilnesse. Leasnam (talk) 23:04, 28 March 2019 (UTC)

Cited. Leasnam (talk) 23:46, 28 March 2019 (UTC)

"these citations are all bizarre poetry or baby talk" -- "baby talk" ? Are you referring to "peased"? That's an apheresis of appeased, not baby talk for "pleased". Poetry counts as language. These are not bizarre when read in full context. Granted, the 2013 is difficult to understand without reading the lengthy sentences that precede it. These are not the totality of available citations. It is not non-standard. Leasnam (talk) 18:09, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

Second opinion please. I maintain that all the citations are bizarre poetry or baby talk. Equinox ◑ 02:14, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

How about "meatest"? And please explain "So so peased to bridle your queen, dovely as I blink her". Poetry is made up of language, but it rearranges it and plays games with its structure. It's like taking a beer can, cutting it up and making a dragonfly sculpture out of the pieces. Do we create an alt-form entry for answer because of the Ogden Nash line "if it's a panther, don't anther"? Besides, I'm not convinced that these all mean the same thing, if they mean anything. Prove to me that we're not dealing with serial nonces created to fit the structure of the poem and remind one of words rather than actually functioning as words. Chuck Entz (talk) 03:48, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

I find it hard to understand what, if anything, the "dovely as I blink her" and especially "dovely mits, sigh and form as they were then we birst[sic] hot carried" citations mean; I would exile them to the citations page and avoid using them for attestation if possible.
The "rosiest, cosiest" cite is obviously just playing with sounds, but seems to be using real or at least meaningful words to do so (e.g. the meaning of "lamb-iest", "most lamb-y", seems clear) and ditto the "pure and dovely" cite, so taking their uses of "dovely" to be meaning "dovelike" seems reasonable, although given the poetic-ness of them, the sense should be tagged as poetic or something. It's not entirely clear why someone would say "dovely dove", but I'd be inclined to tolerate it as as far as attesting the term, if we label it poetic, and maybe uncommon/rare... - -sche (discuss) 04:12, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

Ok, I availed some free time to scope out some better citations, and surprise surprise it's not as poetic as we thought. It is still fairly uncommon, so I left that label. I moved the less clear citations to the citations tab. Leasnam (talk) 03:07, 2 April 2019 (UTC)

RFV-passed Kiwima (talk) 23:29, 9 April 2019 (UTC)