hysecild

hyse +‎ ċild

• IPA^(key): /ˈxy.seˌt͡ʃild/, [ˈhy.zeˌt͡ʃiɫd]

hyseċild n

1. male child
   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The Nativity of the Innocents"

     Sende ða his cwelleras, and ofsloh ealle ða hysecild, þe wǽron on þære byrig Bethleem, and on eallum hyre gemærum, fram twywintrum cilde to anre nihte, be ðære tide þe hé geaxode æt ðam tungel-witegum.

     He then sent his executioners, and slew all the male children that were in the city of Bethlehem, and in all its boundaries, from the child of two years to that of one day, according to the time which he had inquired of the astrologers.

• Though hyse is poetic, hyseċild is a frequent prose word, often occurring alongside mæġdenċild (“female child”). This makes it one of a small class of prose compounds that have a poetic word as a component. Other examples include brȳdguma (“bridegroom”), gūþfana (“war banner”), mǣċefisċ (“mullet”), mæġeþhād (“virginity”), nafugār (“auger”), neorxnawang (“paradise”), randbēag (“boss of a shield”), tōþgār (“toothpick”), and wynsum (“pleasant”). Also the obscured compound ēored (“cavalry”) ← earlier *eohrād. One interpretation of these compounds is that they were already very old, reaching back to a time when both components were commonplace in ordinary speech.

inherited declension

a-stem declension

• mæġdenċild