fullnessn.

Etymology: Cognate with or formed similarly to Old High German folnassī , folnessī , folnissa everything that is contained in something, totality < the Germanic base of full adj. + the Germanic base of -ness suffix. Compare Old English fyllnes (see note). Compare full n.² Compare also plenty n.Notes on specific senses. In biblical contexts, especially in early use, frequently ultimately after Hebrew mĕlō' handful, multitude, contents of (something); compare similar uses in post-classical Latin (Vulgate; ultimately after Hebrew) of classical Latin plēnitūdō plenitude n. In sense 7 originally after classical Latin plēnilūnium plenilunium n.; compare earlier full of the moon at full n.² 3a. Note on spelling. N.E.D. (1898) says ‘the spelling fullness , though less common (except in the U.S.) than fulness , is here adopted as more in accordance with analogy’. The spelling fullness is now by far the most common one, although fulness is still frequent. Compare similar variation, and etymological note, at dullness n. Related Old English formations. In Old English, fyllnes and gefyllednes occur more frequently and also often earlier in comparable senses (compare the variant readings in quot. OE at sense 1 and quots. at senses 2, 3, 4, and 5). Old English fyllnes apparently derives < fill v. + -ness suffix (compare the similarly formed Middle Dutch vulnisse ). The word typically occurs in Anglian sources and sources showing Anglian influence, whereas late West Saxon texts prefer gefyllednes (where the first element is the prefixed past participle of fill v.). The latter formation survives very occasionally into early Middle English as ȝefildnesse , ifullednesse , etc., in late copies of Old English material, but it is unlikely to have influenced Middle English attestations of fullness n.