† ˈminchen Obs.
Forms: 1 mynecenu, -cænu, munecenu, 3 mun(e)chene, 4–5 mynchoun, 4–6 -yn, 5 -on, -eon, -un, -ine, 5–6 -ion, 5, 8–9 -en, 6–7 minchun, -eon, 6, 8 mynchin, 7 minching, 7–9 -in, -en, (9 mynekin); 4–5 meynchen(e, -yn; 4–5 menchon, -en, 5 -one, 7 -ion, mention; 4–5 monchyn, -on(e, -en, 5 -ioun.
[OE. mynecenu (:—prehistoric *munikinî) fem. of munuc monk.]
A nun.
The distinction suggested in quot. 1844 between ‘minchens’ and ‘nuns’ does not seem to have any foundation in the use of the words.
| c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 155/26 Monacha, uel monialis, mynecenu. c 1205 Lay. 28476 And heo wes..munechene. c 1315 Shoreham 7 Sacraments 1780 Sudeakne mey be ywedded nauȝt, Monek, munechene, ne frere [MS. muneche, ne no frere]. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 403 Sche was i-made mynchoun [v.r. monchon, meynchyn]. 1395 E.E. Wills (1882) 6 My suster Thomase Blount, Menchoun of Romeseye. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 3927 Þere was a mynchun w{supt}-inne þat abbay þo, þe wheche was come off heyȝe lynage. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 7164 Þar war, in diuers mansiouns Duelland, monkys and monchiouns. 1485 Caxton Paris & V. (1868) 39, I would rather make you a noune or a menchon. 1495 Will of Terbuck (Somerset Ho.), Euery mynchion w{supt} in the same abbey. 1538 in Lett. Suppress. Monasteries (Camden) 228 Many of the mynchys [read mynchyns] be also agyd. a 1539 in Archæologia XLVII. 54 That euery nunne and mynchin of this house..obserue ther deuyne seruice. 1603 Stowe Surv. 134 Pertayning to the Minchuns, or nuns of Saint Helens. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vii. v. 215 Ermengith a mention. Ibid. xi. 256 Lady Nithgith..was a Menchion. 1658 Phillips, Minchings, an ancient word for those consecrated, whom we call Nuns. 1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) I. v. 198 note 1 The mynekins were so called from the Saxon ‘munuc’, because they observed the rule of the monks, while the nuns observed the rule of the canons. |
| transf. 1531 Elyot Gov. iii. xviii, A Mynchen in the temple of Diana. |
b. attrib., as
minchen clothing; also in the names of places, as
Minchen lane,
Minchen-meadow,
Minchen-wood.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 473 Þis Wilfritha was nouȝt verrayliche a mynchoun..but for drede of kyng Edgar..sche took mynchene cloþynge. 1598 Stow Surv. 97 A thirde lane out of Tower-streete, on the North side, is called Mincheon or Minion lane. 1640 Somner Antiq. Canterb. 69 The which Wood retaines to this day the name of Minchen-Wood. a 1691 Aubrey Nat. Hist. Wilts (1847) 49 About Priory St. Maries, and in the Minchin-meadowes there,..there is infinite variety of plants. |