tuckermanity

English

Etymology

Coined in or around 1848 by Edgar Alan Poe as tuckermanities (see quote below) from the name of Henry Theodore Tuckerman, an American author, plus -ity. Compare humanities.

Noun

tuckermanity (plural tuckermanities)

1. (rare) Poetry or literature, especially that which is excessively proper or moralist; literature by or in the style of Henry T. Tuckerman.
   • 1850, Edgar Alan Poe, “An Enigma”, in The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe, New York: J.S. Redfield, →OCLC, page 26:

     The general tuckermanities are arrant / Bubbles — ephemeral and so transparent

   • 1986, Kermit Vanderbilt, American Literature and the Academy, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page 91:

     Also in 1852 came Henry T. Tuckerman's school manual "Sketch of American Literature" appended to Shaw's Outline of American Literature. Written in the starch-collared prose that gave rise to the term Tuckermanity, the sketch was an old-fashioned blend of literary history and moral precept

   • 1990, Robert Hendrickson, American Literary Anecdotes, New York: Facts On File, →ISBN, page 223:

     Some wag coined the word "tuckermanity," formed on his [Henry Theodore Tuckerman's] name and on the analogy of "humanity," and meaning excessive propriety and conventionality in the literary treatment of love.