Re: [tied] etymology of 'hussy'

At 1:23:15 AM on Wednesday, September 3, 2003, Ray wrote:

> I recently read a book which says the word 'hussy' came
> into being before the form 'housewife'. However, most
> dictionaries' etymology columns list 'hussy' as a
> contraction of housewife; this might suggest that
> 'housewife' was created earlier than 'hussy'.

> So, which account is correct? 'hussy' was created before
> 'housewife' or 'hussy' happened as a contraction of
> 'housewife', i.e. it occurred after 'housewife'?

<Hussy> is a phonetic reduction of <housewife>. The
earliest OED citation for the latter is <husewif> before
1225; for the former, a 16th century Scottish in the plural
as <husseis>. The Concise Scots Dictionary says that the
Scottish reduced form, which also occurs as <hizzie>, is
found as early as the 15th century.

Brian