undeadliness

English edit

Etymology edit

Calque of Middle English undedlynesse (or, in some cases, a continuation rather than a calque), from Old English undēadlīcnes (“immortality”); equivalent to undeadly +‎ -ness; compare German Unsterblichkeit, a similarly formed compound.

Noun edit

undeadliness (uncountable)

The condition of not being susceptible to death; immortality.
- 1852, “A Modern English Version of King Alfred's Blossom-Gatherings from Saint Augustine”, in The whole works of King Alfred the Great, volume 2, page 83:
  Although the holy fathers, who were before us, very certainly knew about that which thou formerly askedst; that is, about the undeadliness of men's souls, which was very clear in this that they naught doubted, […]
- 1875, Emily Sarah Holt, The White Rose of Langley: a story of the court of England in the olden time, page 2:
  "If a man might die, and have done with it all! But to meet God! And 'tis no sweven,¹ ne fallacy, this dread undeadliness² — it is real."
  1. Dream 2. Immortality.
- 1880, Richard Robert Madden, “Farewell lines to an old friend”, in The Memoirs (chiefly autobiographical) from 1798 to 1886 of Richard Robert Madden, published 1891, page 152:
  to find the same / Old traits of time’s undeadliness and fame / In Dante’s visions, and in Shakespeare’s lore, / And Chaucer’s quaint and graphic strains of yore.
- 1929 [p. 1350, a.1396], Dorothy, transl. Jones, Minor works of Walter Hilton, translation of original by Walter Hilton:
  So is the righteous man white in cleanness of soul, and therefore shall he have a white stole of undeadliness in the high Lebanon that is the bliss of heaven.
- 1957 [p. 1154, a. 1162], Ray C., transl. Petry, “Capitulum VII”, in Late Medieval Mysticism, translation of Benjamin by Richard of Saint Victor, page 106:
  He that dwelleth between the terms hath near-hand forsaken deadliness, but not fully, and hath near-hand gotten undeadliness, but not fully.
- 2007 [p. 1350, a. 1400], Evelyn, transl. Underhill, The Cloud of Unknowing, translation of The Cloude of Unknowyng:
  To this will I answer thee, that He had been dead, and was clad with undeadliness, and so shall we be at the Day of Doom.

Synonyms edit

deathlessness; see also Thesaurus:immortality