'Lewd': An Etymology

Author / Editor
Sayers, William.

Title
'Lewd': An Etymology

Published
N&Q 256 (2011): 495-96.

Description
The varying senses of "lewed" in Chaucer's works point out the myopia of the received view of the word's history as an easy progression from "lay" to "lascivious."

Chaucer Subjects
Language and Word Studies