rabblement

[prettygoodword]

rabblement (RAB-uhl-muhnt) - n., a tumult, disturbance; a rabble, disorderly crowd.


No longer much in use, alas, but it's an old one: coined in the 1530s from rabble, which itself is of murky Middle English origin.

---L.

Comments

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

I wonder which of those germanic variations appeared first ...

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

I'd vote Dutch/Low German as most likely source for English usage, given the century for the latter (late fourteenth into fifteenth). Cleasby-Vigfusson gives the Old Icelandic usage as from Karlamagnússaga, and thus it is suspect from a purist's standpoint, since a multilingual person (at least a person who could read multiple langs, even if not able to speak all of them) created that text. "Earlier" babble v.1, btw, isn't much earlier--the Nero Ancrene Wisse is mid-C13.

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

(Also, gosh, thank goodness for quick web access to various dictionaries and references.)

[larryhammer]

Indeed.

---L.