Monday, May 11, 2009

Hannah Sabin of Windham, CT

Here's another example of "widow and relict," which is an example of a "legal lexical doublet" (thanks for the suggestion, RJO). Briefly, a legal lexical doublet is the use of two synonyms — one from Old English and one from Old French — in a legal context. This is an artifact of efforts to span the transition from French to English as the official language of law in the 15th century. Examples include "widow and relict," "goods and chattels," "will and testament," etc.
Hannah Sabin, Windham Center, CT, 1757

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