Etymograph

English

silflay

Silflay comes from Lapine silflay.

  1. Lapinemodernsilflay1
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1981silflay1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English silflay, which cites Adams
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1981, Keith Waterhouse, Willis Hall: “Rabbits were out on silflay, and fat spiders hung…”.

Lineage

  1. LapinemodernsilflayWiktionary, English silflay, which cites Adams
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1981silflayWiktionary, English silflay, which cites Adams. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1981, Keith Waterhouse, Willis Hall: “Rabbits were out on silflay, and fat spiders hung…”

The story

Borrowed from Lapine silflay, coined by Richard Adams in Watership Down as part of the fictional language Lapine, which in the story is spoken by rabbits. The word silflay (‘to eat outdoors’) is derived from silf (‘outdoors’) + flay (‘food’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Lapine silflay

Today it means

noun The act of eating outdoors.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Lapine silflay / silflay

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