Old Book people, I have a citation question!

[wetheplants]

I mention Holinshed's Chronicles at one point and I'm wondering if I need to cite a dictionary somewhere for the meaning of a certain word that I'm fairly certain is no longer in use.

 

Here's my text: In his first edition of Chronicles, Holinshed uses the word “ferly” in place of “wild”, which eloquently emphasizes the witch’s supernatural and ‘strange’ nature, implying that they are ‘unusual’, ‘astonishing’, and ‘causing terror or wonder’ (243; ed. 1577).

 

 

Now I had no idea what ferly meant and just looked it up. Can't be that archaic if it's on dictionary.com - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ferly

 

Should I be citing the dictionary? (Or should I find a better dictionary?) Can I chalk that one up to common knowledge? Should I get rid of the little quotes around the definition words or keep them?

 

[unræd]

This is late, but: if you're discussing specific semantic aspects of a word that's not in common use, and especially discussing what its possible meanings were at a specific point in time, you should definitely cite a lexicographic source. The OED is standard, and will also give you usages of it contemporary to Holinshed's that you can compare it to!