also pigesnie, piggesneyȝe, pigges-ny, piggesnye, pignie, pig-nye, pigseie, pigsney, pigsneye, pigsnie, pigsny, pigsnye, pigsy (dialect), pygges nye, pyggysny, pygsnie, pygsnye CLICK HERE FOR KEY TO SOURCES From E-NED: Middle English from pigges pig's + neyȝe, variant of eyȝe, eye with prosthetic n, apparently derived from an eye, min eye; probably originating in children's talk and the fond prattle of nurses; the eye of the pig (as that of a bird in bird's-nie) is taken as a familiar type of a small eye; the expression is thus equivalent to pinke or pinkie nye, pinkeny, ‘tiny eye’, which was used in the same way as a term of endearment; but early examples showing pigges nye applied to the eye itself (sense 2) have not been found c 1386 - Miller's Tale, Geoffrey Chaucer; see below From: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales Edited by Alfred W. Pollard Volume I. 1894 Miller's Tale P. 142 From: The Plays Of Philip Massinger
By W, Gifford The Second Edition. Volume the Third, 1813 The Picture (1629) Act II Scene I P. 144
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