Can anyone with a large enough dictionary please tell me how to correctly spell ‘nudeustertian’? It is pronounced ‘nude ee us ter shun’ and it means ‘the day before yesterday’. The spelling above should be reasonably close.
Here yas go:
http://www.yourdictionary.com/languages.html
Thanx Muffin, did you find it? I followed many links and got in a knot and still couldn’t get it!
“nudiustertian, a. Obs. rare[sup]-1[/sup] [f. L. nudius tertius.] Of the day before yesterday.”
The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press 1971, p. 1953
The -1 indicates that only one instance of the use of the word is known.
Nope. I blew off the morning hunting about for it, but with no luck.
I came across “mousterian”, but that was more along the lines of “the twenty-millionth day before yesterday” rather than “the day before yesterday.”
I also came across “Neuer, neuer, neuer, neuer, neuer” from Albany’s last words in Lear. But that deals more with “never in all the days in eternity” than “the day before yesterday.”
Cool! Any info on who used it?
Thank you so much. That has been bugging me for about 2 yrs! How on earth did you find it? I wonder how such a word (with only1 recorded instance of use) could get into a (compact) dictionary. I’ll try to locate this dictionary online. Thanx again.
This must make me the 2nd user then1?!!
(Why does Buzz Aldrin [?] spring to mind? -rhetorical)
“1647 W[sup][sub]ARD[/sub][/sup] Simp. Cobler 26 When I heare a…Gentledame inquire…what [is] the nudiustertian fashion of the Court; I mean the very newest.”
(OED’s elisions)
Simple! I just opened up my OED to the spelling you indicated. Finding nothing between nude and nudge, I went browsing. I think I’m going to start using the word “nugacious” (=“trivial, trifling, of no moment or importance”) now.
Don’t let the word “compact” fool you. The Compact Edition of the OED has the complete text of the regular OED, reproduced micrographically. It comes with a magnifying glass so you can read the tiny, tiny print. There is incidentally, also a Concise Oxford Dictionary, which is much smaller and does not contain the word “nudiustertian”.
Oh, and presumably you’ll count as the second if you get it published.
OED Online
The “Word of the Day” is free, but the main dictionary is available on line by subscription only. Cost: £350+VAT/ US$550 per annum. Or you can get the CD-ROM for $295
Err um. I’ll check out the library! Many thanx.