under þe sonne

• under sonne, anunder þe sonne, anunder sonne
  • See alternative forms at under, anunder, þe and sonne.

Calque of Hebrew תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ (táchat hashémesh). The phrase has been associated with the book of Ecclesiastes ever since appearing 29 times in the translation into Middle English by John Wycliffe.

under þe sonne

1. On earth.
2. In existence; in the world.
   • 1382, 1395, Wycliffe, Bible, Ecclesiastes 9:11:

     Y siy vndur sunne

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 1387-1400 Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, "The Knight's Tale":

     gretter was ther noon under the sonne

• under þe mone

• English: under the sun

• “sonne, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 16 June 2018.