Romaunt of the Rose, 1480.
Deadly. This and ‘mortal’ (which see) are sometimes synonyms now; thus, ‘a deadly wound’ or ‘a mortal wound;’ but they are not invariably so; ‘deadly’ being always active, while ‘mortal’ is far oftenest passive, signifying not that which inflicts death, but that which suffers death; thus, ‘a mortal body,’ or body subject to death, but not now ‘a deadly body.’ It was otherwise once. ‘Deadly’ is the constant word in Wiclif’s Bible, wherever in the later Versions ‘mortal’ occurs.
Elye was a deedli man lijk us, and in preier he preiede that it schulde not reyne on the erthe, and it reynede not three yeeris and sixe monethis.—Jam. v. 17. Wiclif.
Many holy prophets that were deadly men were martyred violently in the Old Law.—Foxe, Book of Martyrs; Examination of William Thorpe.
| Debate, | } |
| Debater. |
This word was only true to its etymology (débattre) so long as an element of strife, of war waged by the tongue or by the sword, was included in it. Thus, in some memorable lines attributed to Queen Elizabeth, Mary Queen of Scots is described as ‘the daughter of debate.’ It has now a far more harmless meaning, the element of strife having quite gone out of the word.
It is not the possession of a man’s own, but the usurping of another man’s right that hath brought injustice, debate, and trouble into the world.—Holland, Plutarch’s Morals, p. 680.
Prevy bacbiteris, detractouris, hateful to God, debateris [contumeliosi, Vulg.], proude.—Rom. i. 30. Wiclif.
| Deceivable, | } |
| Deceivableness. |
So far as we use ‘deceivable’ at all now, we use it in the passive sense, as liable to be, or capable of being, deceived. It was active when counted exchangeable with ‘deceitful’ as at 2 Pet. i. 16, where the ‘deceivable’ of Tyndale appears as the ‘deceitful’ of Cranmer’s Bible. It has fared in like manner with ‘discernible,’ ‘contemptible,’ which see, and with other words which, active once, are passive now.