Ycleped

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Called or named, especially in archaic or poetic usage
2. Designated by a particular name, often in an older or more literary context
3. Referred to by a specific title or term, typically found in historical or poetic instances

Etymology: "Ycleped" is "y-" attached to "cleped," and the pieces tell the story. The prefix "y-" is the Old English "ge-," a prefix that once marked completed action and survived into Middle English as a spelling-based ornament, mostly on past participles. Its use faded after the Middle Ages, leaving "ycleped" as one of the few such forms still recognisable to readers today. The second part, "cleped," is the older past participle of "clepen," meaning "to call" or "to name," and it sits in the same family as "clepe," the verb that shaped English naming for centuries. Together the form means something close to "called" or "named," and it lingers mainly in literary and deliberately archaic writing, where its old-fashioned sound signals a formal or antique register.

Synonyms: called, named