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sxoidmal commented on the word swachele
No one knows what it means, and its meaning is lost. I was browsing the Oxford English Dictionary and saw it in a list. Here’s the sum and whole of its entry:
"Obs. Origin and sense unknown."
Less than enlightening! It includes one original reference, in the diary of Simon Forman, which I find elsewhere referenced in The Notorious Astrological Physician of London.
"This yere I bought many pictures about our Lady dai. This sommer I had my own pictur drawn, and mad my purple gowne, my velvet cap my velvet cote my velvet breches my taffety cloke, my had & many other thinges & did let my hear & berd growe. . . . I bought my swachele sword this yer & did the hangers with siluer."
It’s theorized that swachele may mean “swash,” akin to flashy or a quality of swagger.
September 3, 2009
sxoidmal commented on the word swachele
In the 1901 Century Dictionary Vol. VII I found an entry for "swashly," which is defined much as "swachele" was supposed. It's not unreasonable to presume that "swachele" is a misspelling that sounded correct to Simon Forman, whose journal is foggy with alternate spellings and best-guesses.
January 3, 2015