Complaynt

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic term for a mournful lament or sorrowful outcry ; a formal written petition setting out a wrong suffered and seeking legal redress
2. A plaintive expression of sorrow or distress in older English ; a formal accusation or petition presented to a court to demand a remedy
3. An old word for a sorrowful cry or wail of grief ; a legal statement of grievance submitted to an authority for correction

Etymology: "Complaynt" is an Middle English noun, the spelling used by writers such as Chaucer and later Scots poets for a lament or outcry of grief. It came into English from Old French "complainte," a noun formed from the verb "complaindre," meaning to lament or bewail, which itself derives from Latin "complangere," to beat the breast together in mourning. The Latin sense of ritual, shared lamentation is preserved in the root. The spelling with "y" and "ynt" is a later, deliberately archaic or Scots-influenced form that came to be used in the sixteenth century, when writers revived older spellings for poetic effect. The word was then used in the sense of a formal complaint or accusation, which is the modern "complaint," and the grief-meaning gradually receded. Today "complaynt" survives mainly as a literary or antiquarian spelling.