Fwd: "ides, n." - Word of the Day from the OED

[Dave Monroe]

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Subject: "ides, n." - Word of the Day from the OED
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Your word for today is: ides, n.

ides, n.
Pronunciation: Brit. /ʌɪdz/,  U.S. /aɪdz/
Forms:  α.   OE–ME idus,   ME ydus.  β.   lME jde singular,   lME yde
singular,   lME ydees,   lME– ide singular,   lME– ides.   Also with
capital initial.
Etymology: <  classical Latin Īdūs, feminine plural noun ( < the same
Italic base as Oscan eiduis (dative/ablative plural), further
etymology unknown (perhaps an Etruscan loanword)); subsequently
reinforced by its reflex Anglo-Norman and Middle French ides, Middle
French ydes (French ides) (c1119 in Anglo-Norman; in Anglo-Norman and
Old French also in singular ide). Compare Italian idi, plural noun
(14th cent.).
In Old English frequently (after the usual Latin practice of dating)
with name of month following in Latin genitive form or (as adjective)
in accusative plural form (and with numeral preceding, as required):
eOE  tr.  Bede Eccl. Hist. (Otho) v. xxi. 476 Sona ofer þa Eastortide,
þæt is septima Idus Maias, Osric Norþanhymbra cyning of life gewat.
OE Rule St. Benet (Corpus Cambr.) xli. 66 Fram idus septembris oð
lenctenes anginne hy on an mæl to nones gereorden.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1125, & þes
ilces geares forðferde se abbot Iohan of Burch on II idus Octobris.
  In the ancient Roman calendar (Julian and pre-Julian): the third of
the three marker days in each month, notionally the day of the full
moon, which divides the month in half, i.e. the 15th of March, May,
July, October, and the 13th of the other months.
The days after the nones were reckoned forward to the ides; hence such
expressions as ‘the fifth of the ides of October’ (or ‘the fifth ides
of October’, or ‘the fifth ide of October’), loosely rendering Latin
ante diem quintum Idus Octobres (or Octobris) the fifth day (counting
inclusively) before the ides of October, i.e. the 11th of October. Cf.
calends n., nones n.1
α.
OE  tr.  Bede Eccl. Hist. (Corpus Cambr.) v. xxi. 476 Sona ofer ða
Eastertide, þæt is septima Idus on Maius [eOE Otho septima Idus
Maias], Osric Norðhymbra cyning of life gewat.
OE  Byrhtferð Enchiridion (Ashm.) i. ii. 22 Þas feower [sc. March,
May, July, October] habbað vi nonas and xvii kalendas æfter idus and
an and xxx dagena.
a1398  J. Trevisa tr.  Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum
(BL Add.) f. 125v, Som day haþ þe name of kalendis and somme of ydus.
?a1400 (1338)  R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt 511) ii. 341 Idus, þat is, of
May, left I to write þis ryme, B [read D] letter & Friday, by ix þat
ȝere ȝede prime.
c1405 (1395)  Chaucer Squire's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 39 [Ellesmere
He leet] the feste of his Natiuitee [Ellesmerecontinues Doon] crien
thurgh out Sarray his Citee The laste Idus of March after the yeer.
?a1475 (1425)  tr.  R. Higden Polychron. (Harl.) (1879) VII. 403 Thei
have but oon refeccion in the day from the idus of September untylle
Ester.
β.
a1450 (1338)  R. Mannyng Chron. (Lamb.) (1887) i. l. 16033 Þe ferþe
day þat ys y þe ides of Octobre.
c1451  J. Capgrave Life St. Gilbert 141 Her lith Seynt Gilbert‥whech
was translate in-to þis schrine‥þe þirde yde of October.
1483  Caxton tr.  J. de Voragine Golden Legende 215 b/2 It was the iii
ydees of Juyll.
c1503  R. Arnold Chron. f. lxvv/1, Somer‥beginnithe the vij. Ide of
may and lastith vnto the vij. Ide of august.
1576  A. Fleming tr.  Cicero in Panoplie Epist. 40 Dated the .7. of
the Ides of June.
1600  P. Holland tr.  Livy Rom. Hist. xlii. xxii. 1128 The
Pretour‥adjourned the defendant to make appearance in the court upon
the Ides of March [L. idibus Martiis].
a1616  Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) i. ii. 20 Cæsar‥Beware the
Ides of March.
1642  J. Howell The Vote 7 The soft gliding Nones and evry Ide.
1679  J. Moxon Math. made Easie 26 The Roman Month its several days
divides By reckoning backwards, Calends, Nones, and Ides.
1719  R. Pack Burlesque Imitation First Ode Horace in Misc. Verse &
Prose 73 November shall her Ides advance, To grace my Birth-Day ev'ry
Year.
1769  O. Goldsmith Rom. Hist. II. 25 The conspirators‥remitted the
execution of their design to the ides of March.
1776  A. Adams in  J. Q. Adams Familiar Lett. (1876) 160 The 19th of
April, ever memorable for America as the Ides of March to Rome and to
Cæsar.
1834  E. Bulwer-Lytton Last Days of Pompeii i. iii, ‘It stands fixed
for the ninth ide of August’, answered Pansa.
1847  R. W. Emerson Poems 52 Foreteller of the vernal ides, Wise
harbinger of spheres and tides.
1880  L. Wallace Ben Hur ii. v. 114, I was thinking of the soothsayer
who warned Caius Julius against the ides of March.
1921  E. L. White Andivius Hedulio i. vi. 89, I had left my villa on
the eighth day before the Ides of June and it was now the ninth day
before the Kalends of July.
1998  D. E. Duncan Calendar iii. 46 He also retained the old system of
numbering days according to kalends, nones and ides, as well as the
traditional names of the months, although later the Senate changed
Quintilius to Julius (July) in his honour.

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