| has gloss | eng: English words first attested in Chaucer are a set of about two thousand English words that Geoffrey Chaucer is credited as being the first use found today in existing manuscripts. This does not mean that he was the person to introduce these words into English, but that the earliest extant uses of these words are found in Chaucerian manuscripts. The words were already in everyday speech in fourteenth century England (especially London) and other parts of Europe. The claim is that these words are found for the first time in written manuscripts where he introduced them in one of his extensive works from 1374 - 1400 as the first author to use these particular words. He points out that the MED does not give details on the etymology of many of Chaucers derived words, including many compounds, some participial adjectives, and most gerunds. |
