I came across this sentence
He was brisk and of ready, lively wit, so that nobody or nothing could worst him.
This is from English Fairy Tales. What's the meaning of this phrase "of ready" and usage of this "of "?
asked Aug 14, 2016 at 9:29
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2 Answers
He was brisk and of ready, lively wit, so that nobody or nothing could worst him.
It means he was witty (Showing or characterized by quick and inventive verbal humour). Wit is a noun, so to characterize his wit we use adjectives (ready and lively). Since you can't add these adjectives to witty, you should use a noun phrase meaning of such quality (possessing this quality):
of ready, lively wit.
"to be of" means "to posess intrinsically". See http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/be-of
(That link doesn't seem to contain any examples of the other meaning given, "to give rise to", and I can't think of any either!)
In simpler modern English, the sentence could be written "He was active and energetic, and had a ready, lively wit..."
