Stewart
I agree with Caroline Usher's interpretation. There is clearly a
hierarchy in terms of perceived size, from Sun (largest), to stars
(smallest). "under" in "Underlights", would then have a similar
function as "under" in "underling".
Anthony
Le 7 nov. 06 =E0 16:55, Caroline Usher a ecrit :
> At 09:42 AM 11/7/2006, Stewart McCoy wrote:
>> In Thomas Campion's song, "Author of light", there is the line
>>
>> "Sunne and Moone, Starres and underlights I see".
>>
>> What are "underlights"? I can't find the word in any of the
>> dictionaries I have at home.
>
> Hmmm. My first thought was that this is a reference to the
> planets, whose sphere is under that of the stars.
>
> Consulting the OED, there is one citation for underlight:
> 1876 <http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-
> g.html#gladstone>G<http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-
> g.html#gladstone>LADSTONE in Morley Life (1903) II. 550, I see that
> eastward sky of storm and of underlight.
>
> It points to the prefix under-, definition I. 5. c.:
> Denoting position below a surface or covering, or at a depth.
> Examples of this occur from the 17th century, but are not common
> until the 19th.
> 1892 <http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-
> m3.html#meredith>M<http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-
> m3.html#meredith>EREDITH Poet. Wks. (1912) 325 There chimed a
> bubbled *underbrew With witch~wild spray of vocal dew.
> 1913 Love Poems & Others 27 And even in the watery shells that lie
> Alive within the oozy *under-mire, A grain of this same fire I can
> descry.
> Many more quotations.
>
> I actually think the quotes under meaning II. "Denoting inferiority
> in rank or importance" fit better with this lyric. The underlights
> are the lesser lights of the sky.
>
> 6. b. With other nouns, in the sense of `subordinate, subsidiary,
> minor'. An early instance of this is underhelp (1579); others, such
> as underaccident, -action, -cause, -ministry, etc., occur in the
> 17th cent.
> 1598 <http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-
> f.html#florio>F<http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-
> f.html#florio>LORIO, Sottodistintione, an *vnder-distinction, or
> subdistinction.
> 1691 <http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-
> n.html#norris>N<http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-
> n.html#norris>ORRIS Pract. Disc. 205 The Desire of
> Happiness..governs all the *under~motions of the Man.
> 1711 <http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-
> s5.html#swift>S<http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-
> s5.html#swift>WIFT Jrnl. Stella 28 Apr. (1901) 203 All the *under-
> hints there are mine too.
>
> Or, he could simply mean the lights both lower and lesser of human
> making which are visible at night on the earth's surface.
> Caroline
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> Caroline Usher
> DCMB Administrative Coordinator
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