Fondnesse

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A warm feeling of tenderness or liking toward a person or thing ; an archaic sense meaning foolishness, silliness, or a lack of good judgment
2. Tender attachment or affection held toward someone or something ; in older English, the quality of being foolish or lacking sound sense
3. A gentle, cherished regard for another being or object ; an old-fashioned usage describing silliness or a naive, unwise disposition

Etymology: In Middle English, "fond" meant "foolish" or "silly," not affectionate. It came from "fonned," the past participle of "fonnen," meaning "to act foolishly," which was related to "fon," a fool. Someone described as fond was simply a fool, and the adjective kept that sense for centuries before it drifted toward "liking" something too much, and then toward tender attachment. The spelling "fondnesse" shows the word in its earlier form, with the final "-e" and double "s" common in Middle English. The suffix "-nesse" is native English, added to adjectives to turn them into nouns of state or quality, as in "goodness" or "kindness." So "fondnesse" literally meant the quality of being foolish. The noun's modern sense of affection grew out of the adjective's shift, so the original meaning survives only in the word's ancestry.