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Humphrey. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
Humphrey, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
Humphrey in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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Humphrey will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
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English
Etymology
Name of a 9th-century French saint, brought to England by Normans; Proto-Germanic *unnaną (“to grant, bestow”) + *friþuz (“peace”). In Ireland it has been used to Anglicize Irish Amhlaoibh (= Olaf). [1]
Pronunciation
Proper noun
Humphrey
- A male given name from the Germanic languages.
1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals): : Act I, Scene I:
- I never saw but Humphrey, Duke of Gloster, / Did bear him like a noble gentleman.
1988, Howard Engel, A Victim Must Be Found, page 70:"Hump?" I asked. "Humphrey, really. But everybody callls him Hump. I know a lot of people who avoid calling him by his first name. For a long time people didn't think it was quite proper. But nowadays nobody seems to mind. What's happening to the power of words, Benny? Time was I used to blush at the words scrawled on the fences, and now I hear them - everywhere. How are writers going to write books if language is going bland on them?"
- A surname originating as a patronymic.
Derived terms
References
- ^ Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges : A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press 1988.
Anagrams