WORD FOR THE DAY

Your word for today is: souling, n.

souling, n.

Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈsəʊlɪŋ/,  U.S. /ˈsoʊlɪŋ/

Forms:  OE sawleng,   lME sowlyng,   lME sowlynge,   18 sowling Welsh English (Pembrokeshire),   18– soling Eng. regional (Cheshire),   18– souling.

Etymology: <  soul v. + -ing suffix1. With later use compare discussion at soul v.

†1.  The giving up of the soul; dying, death. Obs. rare.

OE Old Eng. Martyrol (Julius) 19 July 155 Cwæþ sum halig biscop, ða he wæs on sawlenga, be þeossum fæder: ‘Arsenius, þu wære eadig.’

1440 Promp. Parv. (Harl. 221) 466 Sowlynge [?a1475 Winch. sowlyng], or dyynge, obitus, vel exalacio.

2.  Eng. regional (chiefly north. and west.). The action, practice, or ritual of going about asking for donations of food, etc., traditionally on the eve of All Souls' Day. Now hist.

1813  H. Ellis Brand's Observ. Pop. Antiq. (rev. ed.) II. Index 725/2 Staffordshire, custom of Souling in, on All Saints' Day.

1851 N. & Q. 1st Ser. 4 506/1 The custom of ‘souling’.is carried on with great zeal..in this neighbourhood [i.e. Cheshire].

1872 Cambrian Jrnl. 4 185 What was called ‘souling’, or ‘sowling’, was practised by the female portion of the poor, who visited their more wealthy neighbours, demanding ‘sowl’.

1914   (title)in Folklore 25 285 Souling, clementing, and catterning. Three November customs of the western Midlands.

1959 Times 4 Dec 19/1 English ‘luck-visits’..take their names from the Christian usage that overlies pagan observance—as souling, katterning (St. Catherine), [etc.].

1999 Guardian 30 Oct. (Jobs & Money section) 17/1 According to one authority, trick or treating originated in the 9th century in Europe as an activity called ‘souling’.

Compounds
 
  General attrib. (in sense 2) as souling children, souling day, souling song, etc.

1828  T. Forster Circle of Seasons 318 Today being old All Souls Day,..it is called in Shropshire Souling Day, from the custom of making..cakes to be eaten on All Souls Day.

1878 N. & Q. 5th Ser. 10 426, I am reminded of her just now by the children who are singing their ‘Souling Song’ under my window.

1883  C. S. Burne Shropshire Folk-lore 382 Soul-cakes..to give away to the souling-children.

1883  C S. Burne Shropshire Folk-lore 385 Souling time's coming.

1912  C. A. Miles Christmas in Ritual & Trad. viii. 211 Rhymes resembling in many ways the ‘souling’ verses.

1997 Toronto Star (Nexis) 26 Oct. e8 In England..children dressed up in masks and costumes and travelled through the village, singing ‘The Souling Song’.

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