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paynim

[pey-nim]
noun Archaic.
  1. a pagan or heathen.
  2. a Muslim.
  3. pagandom; heathendom.
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Origin of paynim

1200–50; Middle English: pagan (noun and adj.), pagan countries, heathendom < Old French pai(e)nime < Late Latin pāgānismus paganism
Related formspay·nim·hood, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for paynim

Historical Examples

  • A crusade is a war to recover the Holy Land from the paynim.

    Tom Sawyer Abroad

    Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

  • I allowed if the paynim was satisfied I was, and we would let it stand at that.

    Tom Sawyer Abroad

    Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

  • There were three died in the Holy Land doing battle with the Paynim.

    Long Will

    Florence Converse

  • How can we return with all the paynim nations jeering at us, crying, 'See!

    God Wills It!

    William Stearns Davis

  • He could not help himself, when the Paynim burnt him: and how can he help us?

British Dictionary definitions for paynim

paynim

noun archaic
  1. a heathen or pagan
  2. a Muslim
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Word Origin

C13: from Old French paienime, from Late Latin pāgānismus paganism, from pāgānus pagan
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for paynim

n.

mid-13c., "heathen lands," from Old French paienime, paienisme "heathen, pagan; Saracen lands or culture or faith," from Late Latin paganismus "heathendom" (Augustine), from paganus "heathen" (see pagan); mistaken meaning "a heathen person" (late 14c., also in Old French) is via phrases such as paynim lands.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper