2196: pure Dec 19, 2020

It is not uncommon for simple, fairly basic, more conceptual terms to have deep historical roots, but this isn't really true of 'pure'. Indeed, this word is found as a surname and as part of a compound before an adjective in its own right. Granted, that compound was 'purlamb' and referred to a lamb without any sort of physical defect. This word is from a Romantic root without much difference in meaning, and indeed the Proto-Indo-European one *peue- doesn't have too many semantically deviant derivatives. This replaced the earlier Old English 'hlutor', 'smǣte', and 'scǣre' which had some of the same sort of moral and genetic connotations etc. but 'pure' did not immediately have these either.