Re: Wicked!

On Sun, 02 Jul 2006 14:25:57 +0100, LFS
<laura@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Phil C. wrote:

The Lincolnshire Lay Subsidy of 1334 includes one Everard le Wikked
living in Stamford (Bredecroft).
<http://www.le.ac.uk/english/pot/lincbrad.html>

Cool name, huh? My dictionaries suggest that "wicked" is Middle
English perhaps from OE Inca, a wizard. But I wonder what nuances the
word carried in the C14th. Anyone got an OED handy?

Here's some of the OED entry - can't see anything about wizards, though.
Everard may just have been a bad lot.
<snip interesting detail>

Thanks for looking. The meaning doesn't seem to have changed much
until modern slang use. It must have been a burdensome name to carry
when he was up to no good. I notice that Stamford (main entry) has
also got an Andrew Godefelaugh. No prizes for guessing which of the
two was better off.

I can remember following a "historical" story in a comic ("Lion" or
"Eagle" or something) which featured Sir Giles Fairchild and Sir Percy
Foulfellow. Now I wonder which one was the villain...
--
Phil C.
.