warnisoun

Middle English

Alternative forms

• varnysoun

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Northern French warnison, from warnir (“to protect, provision”); equivalent to warnysshen +‎ -isoun. Doublet of garnisoun.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /warniˈzuːn/, /ˈwarnizun/

Noun

warnisoun

1. (rare) A band of armed men; a troop.
   • c. 1375, “Book X”, in Iohne Barbour, De geſtis bellis et uirtutibus domini Roberti de Brwyß […] (The Brus, Advocates MS. 19.2.2)‎^[1], Ouchtirmunſye: Iohannes Ramſay, published 1489, folio 34, recto, lines 325-327; republished at Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland, c. 2010:

     And quhen þai off his warniſoun / Saw þe Sege ſet [þair] ſa ſtythly / Þai myſtrow[it] him off tratouꝛy […]

     When those in his troops / saw the siege launched strongly there, / they mistrusted him as a traitor […]

References

• “warnisǒun, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.