Pigsney

Question

I came upon the word "pigsney" while surfing my OED Online which is defined as "one particularly cherished; a darling pet." The OED says that it has a dialect usage, Does anybody know what dialect still uses the term?

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]I came upon the word "pigsney" while surfing my OED Online which is defined as "one particularly cherished; a darling pet." The OED says that it has a dialect usage, Does anybody know what dialect still uses the term?[/nq]
The Century Dictionary of 1895 showed it as being obsolete:

From
www.century-dictionary.com
(quote)
pigsney(obsolete), pigsny(obsolete) /'pIgznI/, n. (Also pigsnye, pigsnie ; < M.E. piggesnye, piggesneyghe, lit. 'pig's-eye'; pigges, gen. of pigge, pig ; neyghe, a variant, with attracted n of indef. art., of
eyghe, etc., eye: see eye 1.) 1. A pig's eye: used, like eye and apple of the eye, to denote something especially cherished; hence, as a
term of endearment used of or to a woman, a
darling.
She was a primerole, a piggesnye.
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 82.
Miso, mine own pigsnie, thou shalt hear news of Dame- tas. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iii.

Thou art,
As I believe, the pigsney of his heart.
Massinger, Picture, ii, 1.
2. An eye: applied to a woman's eye. (Humor-ous.)
Shine upon me but benignly,
With that one, and that other pigsney.
S. Butler, Hudibras, II. i. 560.
3. The carnation pink.

(end quote)

Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I came upon the word "pigsney" while surfing my OED ... usage, Does anybody know what dialect still uses the term?[/nq]
[nq:1]The Century Dictionary of 1895 showed it as being obsolete:[/nq]
(snip)
The only recent (well, relatively recent) usage that springs to mind is in C S Lewis's Screwtape Letters, 1942 (where it's spelt 'pigsnie'). The context assumes that the reader (likely to be fairly well-educated English) is familiar with the term. It's the fnal letter from the senior devil, Screwtape, to his nephew, Wormwoood, after Wormwood, to Screwtape's unconcealed glee, has made a terminal mistake and is heading for liquidation. Screwtape begins:

"My dear, my very dear, Wormwood, my poppet, my pigsnie" bb
Wood Avens
spamtrap: remove number to reply

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I came upon the word "pigsney" while surfing my OED Online which is defined as "one particularly cherished; a darling pet." The OED says that it has a dialect usage, Does anybody know what dialect still uses the term?[/nq]
Jonathan Green doesn't restrict its use to any particular dialect, and he is not loath to do so in cases where he can. Notice the spelling difference, though. "SE" = "standard English"
pigsnyes /n./ (late 18C) a coarse term of endearment used to a woman. (SE /pig's eyes/; ? the implication is of a pig, greedy, in this case, for ***)

Neither Ayto nor Chapman&Kipfer (was Wentworth&Flexner) list this term.

AHD4 labels it (in both senses) as /Obsolete/ with no indication of dialect use.
The OED full-text search yields 6 instances of "pigsney," 2 of "pigsnye" (both from 1386 and s.v. "pigsney") and none of Green's "pigsnyes."

Martin Ambuhl

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I came upon the word "pigsney" while surfing my OED Online which is defined as "one particularly cherished; a darling pet." The OED says that it has a dialect usage, Does anybody know what dialect still uses the term?[/nq]
C. S. Lewis, who normally wrote perfectly good English, spelled it "pigsnie" in "The Screwtape Letters"; Screwtape's last letter opens with the salutation "My dear, my very dear Wormwood, my poppet, my pigsnie".

Chris Green

Pigsney

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