Symplenesse

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic term for simplicity, the quality of being plain, unaffected and free from artifice or complication
2. Old-fashioned word for the state of being simple and straightforward, often with a sense of innocence or guilelessness
3. Archaic noun describing plainness of manner or nature, a lack of pretense or cunning in a person or thing

Etymology: Symplenesse is a rare Middle English word meaning simplicity or plainness, and it is a good example of how a spelling can outlive the sense that made it familiar. It was formed in English by adding the noun suffix "-nesse" (the Middle English form of "-ness") to the adjective "simple," which came into English from Old French "simple" and ultimately from Latin "simplex," meaning "single" or "of one fold." The Latin word itself was built from "sim-," an old root meaning "one," and "plex," related to "plicare," to fold, so a simple thing was originally one that had not been folded or doubled. The word is attested in Middle English, where it appears in religious and moral writing that praised a plain, unpretentious life. Its spelling with "y-" and "-sse" reflects the scribal habits and French influence of the period rather than any separate Greek or Latin root. It was gradually displaced by "simplicity," which entered English directly from Latin, leaving "symplenesse" as a fossil of an earlier stage of the language.