undecent - From Ulster to America
Source: From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English
Author: Michael Montgomery
Comments: From Ulster to America recounts the lasting impact eighteenth-century settlers from Ulster have made on the development of the English language of the United States. The book documents over 500 vocabulary items contributed to American English by these ‘Scotch-Irish’ settlers. Each ‘shared’ term with its meaning is authenticated by quotations from both sides of the Atlantic. This searchable online version of his book takes its text from the dictionary part of the second edition published by the Ullans Press in 2017.
undecent, ondacent, ondaicent, ondecent, undacent adj Indecent, unfitting, disrespectful, improper, mean-spirited. [oed undecent adj ’unfitting, unbecoming, improper; offensive to propriety or moral feeling’ 1563→, obsolete except dialect; dost undecent adj 1 ‘unbecoming, unseemly, improper, indecent’ late 16th century→]
Ulst.:
1845 Carleton Irish Peasantry 54 Dick took Susy’s advice, bekase, after all, his undacent drop was in him, or he’d never have brought the bottle out of the house at all.
1884 McFadyen and Hepburn Lays and Legends 6 It’s rether ondacent to fecht wi’ the clargy.
1895 MacManus Leadin’ Road 43 I never yet in all my travels met with such ondaicent people.
1904 Marshall Dial of Ulster 128 ondacent = mean, disreputable.
c1910 Byers Glossary: ondacent = not decent, mean, disreputable, unfair.
1921 Irvine Poor Folk 47 ‘It’s undacent’, says she to the king when she saw him, ‘to be holdin’ a colleen’s clothes like that’.
1948 Marshall Planted by River 93 Leave aff [the sword], ye ondacent vagabone, an’ see if ye can bate a man with only one arm an’ a bit o’ cowl iron.
U.S.:
1909 Payne Word-list East Alabama 354 ondecent = indecent.
1934 Web 2nd Intl Dict, undecent = indecent.
Purchase From Ulster to America
The second, revised edition of Michael Montgomery’s From Ulster to America is now available here:
From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English (Europe)
From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English (North America)
