HOBBINOL also HOBBINALL, HOBBINOLD, HOBBINOLL, HOBINALL, HOBINOLL, HOBNOL, HOBYNOLL NOUN the name of a shepherd in Edmund Spenser's Shepheardes Calender; hence, a countryman, a rustic, a peasant - 1579 obs. ETYMOLOGY From OED: apparently from Hob, Hobby, or Hobbin, apparently with reference to the sense ‘rustic’ of Hob (n. a rustic, a clown) + noll (n. head, pate, noddle) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1579 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "... It is not Hobbinol, wherefore I plaine, Albee my loue he seeke with dayly suit: His clownish gifts and curtsies I disdaine, His kiddes, his cracknelles, and his early fruit. Ah foolish Hobbinol, thy gyfts bene vayne: Colin them gives to Rosalind againe....." From: The Shepheardes Calender: January - Edmund Spenser
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
September 2021
|