abhominable

English edit

Etymology edit

First attested in the 1300s, a variant of abominable, influenced by Latin ab + homine (“man”);^[1] compare abhominal. The unnecessary addition of h to words was once common; compare abholish (abolish). Abandoned by the 1600s.^[2] Compare also abhomination.

Pronunciation edit

IPA^(key): /əbˈhɒmɪnəbəl/, /əˈbɒmɪnəbəl/
Audio (Southern England) (file)

Adjective edit

abhominable (comparative more abhominable, superlative most abhominable)

Obsolete form of abominable.
- 1597, Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, act 5, scene I:
  This is abhominable, which he [Don Armado] would call abominable.
- 1951, w:C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian, chapter XIII:
  [...] your Lordship [is] twice guilty of treachery both in withholding the dominion of Narnia from the said Caspian and in the most abhominable, —don’t forget to spell it with an H, Doctor— bloody, and unnatural murder of your kindly lord and brother King Caspian Ninth of that name.

References edit

^ Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], →ISBN), page 3
^ Elliott K. Dobbie, C. William Dunmore, Robert K. Barnhart, et al. (editors), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2004 [1998], →ISBN), page 4

Middle English edit

Adjective edit

abhominable

Alternative form of abhomynable

[1] Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], →ISBN), page 3

[2] Elliott K. Dobbie, C. William Dunmore, Robert K. Barnhart, et al. (editors), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2004 [1998], →ISBN), page 4

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