Thenoun is derived fromMiddle Englishpith,pithe(“central tissue of a plant’s stem or a tree’s trunk and branches; other spongy inner tissue in a plant; flesh of a fruit, pulp; inner tissue in a body; inner part of an object; essential part, essence, quintessence; importance, value; energy, force, strength, vigour; severity”)[and other forms],[1] fromOld Englishpiþa[and other forms], fromProto-Germanic*piþô, from earlier*piþō (oblique*pittan); further etymology unknown.[2]Doublet ofpit(“seed or stone inside a fruit”).
Theverb is derived from the noun[3] (Middle Englishpethen(“to give courage or strength”), frompith(noun),[4] did not survive into modern English).
1597, John Gerarde [i.e.,John Gerard], “Of Aromaticall Reedes”, inThe Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes.[…], London:[…] Edm[und] Bollifant, forBonham and Iohn Norton,→OCLC, book I,page56:
This ſvveete ſmelling Reede is of a darke dun colour, full of ioints and knees eaſie to be broken into ſmall ſplinters, hollovv and full of a certaine vvhitepith, cobvveb vviſe, ſomevvhat gummie in eating, and hanging in the teeth, and of a ſharpe bitter taſte.
Some make inciſion into the very Vine braunch, as farre as to thepith and marrovv vvithin (to divert the moiſture that feedeth the grape:) others lay the cluſters a drying upon tile-houſes: and all this is done vvith the grapes of the Vine Helvenaca.
1634,T[homas] H[erbert], “Mohelia, Its Description”, inA Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia,[…], London:[…]William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome,→OCLC,page24:
Atop the [Palmito] tree is apith, in taſte better then Cabbage; and eating it takes avvay the future benefit of grovvth or fructifying, theſe and the Date-tree thriue not, except the male and female be vnited, and haue copulation: the ſhe is only fruitfull.
1671 December 17 (Gregorian calendar),Nehemiah Grew, “The Anatomy of Plants, Begun.[…] The First Book.[…] Chapter III. Of the Trunk.”, inThe Anatomy of Plants.[…], 2nd edition,[London]:[…] W. Rawlins, for the author, published1682,→OCLC,page25:
VVhy are the AnnualGrovvths of all bothHerbs andTrees, vvith greatPiths, the quickeſt and longeſt? But hovv are thePores andBladders of thePith permeable? That they are ſo, both from their being capable of a repletion vvithSap, and of being again vvholly emptied of it, and again, inſtead thereof fill'd vvithAer, is as certain as that they arePores.
The food often grows in one country, and the sauce in another. The fruits of Portugal are corrected by the products of Barbadoes, and the infusion of a China plant is sweetened by thepith of an Indian cane.
Becauſe many do hold this opinion that this diſeaſe doth conſume the marrovv of the backe:[…] [s]ome againe, do tvvine out thepith of the backe vvith a long vvire thruſt vp into the horſſes head, and ſo into his necke and backe, vvith vvhat reaſon I knovv not.
1653,Henry More, “Of the Nature of the Soul of Man, whether She be a Meere Modification of the Body, or a Substance Really Distinct, and then whether Corporeall or Incorporeall”, inAn Antidote against Atheisme, or An Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Minde of Man, whether There Be Not a God, London:[…] Roger Daniel,[…],→OCLC, book I,page37:
Verily if vvee take a right vievv of this laxepith or marrovv in Mans head, neither our ſenſe nor underſtanding can diſcover any thing more in this ſubſtance that can pretend to ſuch noble operations as free Imagination and ſagacious collections of Reaſon, then vve can diſcern in a Cake ofSevvet or a bovvle of Curds.
The berrie Coccum Gnidium, in colour reſembleth the Scarlet graine; in quantitie a pepper corne, but that it is bigger: of an ardent and cauſticke qualitie it is, and therefore they uſe to lap it in the ſoft crum orpith of a loafe of bread, and ſo ſvvallovv it, for feare it ſhould burne the throat as it paſſeth dovvn.
In these days folk still believed in witches and trembled at a curse; and this one, falling so pat, like a wayside omen, to arrest me ere I carried out my purpose, took thepith out of my legs.
Maſter, you look'd ſo longly on the maide, / Perhaps you mark'd not vvhat's thepith of all.[…] Mark'd you not hovv hir ſiſter / Began to ſcold, and raiſe vp ſuch a ſtorme, / That mortal eares might hardly indure the din.
The clothesline was old and dark gray. It had burst open and was giving up its whitepith.[…] The clothesline surrendered thepith of its soul, and Kathleen's stockings, hung at the wide end, now suggested lust.
Iron bovves, and ſtele bovves, have bene of longe time, and alſo novv are uſed among theTurkes, but yet they muſt nedes be unprofitable. For if braſſe, iron, or ſtele, have their ovvne ſtrengthe andpithe in them, they be farrre[sic] above mans ſtrengthe: if they be made meete for mans ſtrengthe, theyrpithe is nothinge vvorth to ſhoote any ſhoote vvithall.
1549 February 10 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as1548),Erasmus, “The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon theGhospell of S. Luke. The Preface of Erasmus vnto His Paraphrase vpon theGhospell of Luke. Unto the Moostle Puissaunt and Most Victorious PrinceHenry the Eight, King of England, Fraunce, and Ireland,[…].”, in Nicolas Udall [i.e.,Nicholas Udall], transl.,The First Tome or Volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testamente, London:[…]Edwarde Whitchurche,→OCLC,folio xii, verso:
I founde in myne owneſelfe, that litle fruite there commeth of the goſpell, if a man reade it but ſluggiſhely, and ſuperficially renne it ouer. But in caſe a mã [man] do with diligent and exquiſite meditacion kepe hymſelf occupied therin, he ſhal fele a certaine vertue andpith ſuche as he ſhall not fele the lyke in any other bookes.
1521–1522,John Skelton, “Here after Followeth a Litel Boke Called Colyn Cloute,[…]”, inAlexander Dyce, editor,The Poetical Works of John Skelton:[…], volume I, London:Thomas Rodd,[…], published1843,→OCLC,page313, lines53–58:
For though my ryme be ragged, / Tattered and iagged, / Rudely rayne beaten, / Rusty and moughte eaten, / If ye take well therwith, / It hath in it somepyth.
Thus Conſcience does make Covvards of vs all, / And thus the Natiue hevv of Reſolution / Is ſicklied o're, vvith the pale caſt of Thought, / And enterprizes of greatpith and moment, / VVith this regard their Currants turne avvay, / And looſe the name of Action.
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And yet, instead of exclaiming "Send this inconceivable Satanist to the stake," the respectable newspaperspith me by announcing "another book by this brilliant and thoughtful writer."
That's nothing. I have an IMEI changer that will do all of the above and beat you off at the same time, while whistling the adaggio from Spartacus in Armenian and calculating pi to thepith power in swahili.
2017 March 5, abu.ku…@gmail.com, “The non existence of p’th root of any prime number, for (p>2) prime”, insci.math[3] (Usenet), message-ID <cabe6746-8a13-44f0-9e95-30eec727654a@googlegroups.com>:
already, we know what is minus one from Euler: it is the I*pith power of e, such that ln(-1) = i*pi
1997 April 26, Brian Hutchings, “Trigonometric Functions”, insci.math[4] (Usenet),message-ID <1997Apr26.204554.24471@lafn.org>:
not only that, but your "radian" axis can be labelled as *being* in units of pis, as opposed to the redundancy of 0pi, pi/2, pi etc.; conversely, your circumferential measure can be rational (or units) and your radius can be transcendental (orpiths .-)
2016 April 2, abu.ku…@gmail.com, “pi^2/6 and 6/pi^2”, insci.math[5] (Usenet), message-ID <d1d13d13-c4c0-43c3-b4cb-7911dcb24cc7@googlegroups.com>:
thought it was the two-sixths power of pi, and teh[sic] secondpower of sixpiths
2017 January 13, thugst…@gmail.com, “Electron-positron annihilation”, insci.physics[6] (Usenet), message-ID <89a35ff8-1df1-4ab5-baf5-fdc605207710@googlegroups.com>:
of course, although apith is less than a third, hence pi is more than three, say, thirty-one tenths, but 22/7 is still less than pi, and that's a rather small gore
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, September 2023;“pith,n.”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.
