blackavisedadj.

Etymology: Probably < black adj. + French vis face (see vice n.³; the English noun was obsolete long before the first attestation of the compound) + -ed suffix², with insertion of the medial -a- after blackamoor n. (compare the β. forms at that entry); compare black-faced adj. Alternatively, it is conceivable that the word could show a formation < black adj. + advised adj., although this shows a better formal than semantic fit, unless the original sense of the compound was ‘having bad intentions’. Perhaps compare Older Scots black-fyse (1695 in an isolated attestation in uncertain sense, perhaps ‘black-faced’), which could show the same second element, French vis. Sc. National Dict. at black-a-viced adj. suggests a formation < black adj. + an alleged Middle French phrase à vis ‘by appearance, apparently’ ( < à to + vis face: see vice n.³) + -ed suffix². However, à vis appears not to be attested in French in this sense (vis-à-vis vis-à-vis adv., which Sc. National Dict. adduces as a parallel, is different both morphologically and semantically). Although Old French has similar phrases with specifying adjective, e.g. au cler vis ‘with a bright face’, au fier vis ‘with a proud face’ (both 13th cent.), the Middle French phrase for ‘having a specified face or appearance’ was de vis (14th cent.; frequently with premodifying adjective, e.g. bele de vis ‘(of a woman) fair-faced’, gent de corps et de vis ‘having an attractive body and face’). English regional (northern) avised ‘having a specific feature or complexion’ (in compounds, with the feature in question as first element, e.g. dark-avised , light-avised ), which is first attested considerably later (late 19th cent.), is probably modelled on blackavised adj. N.E.D. (1887) gives the pronunciation as (blæ·kăvəi:st) /ˈblækəˌvaɪst/.