網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

= Know not. Ne and wot.

284. Not 285. Clerk:

= an ecclesiastic or man of learning; here a university student. Oxenford = Oxford; not derived from the A. S. oxna, oxen, but from a Celtic word meaning water.

[blocks in formation]

292. Office secular calling, in contrast with benefice, an ecclesiastical living.

293. Levere

=

preferable. Him is dat. after levere. Cf. Ger. lieber. 295. Aristotle was a celebrated Greek philosopher. He was the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy, and the tutor of Alexander the Great.

[blocks in formation]

302. Scoleye to attend school, to study. Poor students were accustomed to beg for their support at the universities.

[blocks in formation]

310. Atte parvys

=

wary.

at the porch, of St. Paul's, where lawyers were accustomed to meet for consultation.

=

312. Of gret reverence worthy of great respect or reverence.

318. Purchasour prosecutor. French pourchasser, to hunt after. 319. Al was fee simple to him. This seems to mean that all cases were clear to him. See etymology of fee in Webster.

320. His prosecution might not be tainted (enfecte) or contaminated with any illegality.

323. Caas and domes = cases and dooms, or precedents and decisions. 325. Make a thing make or draw up a contract.

[blocks in formation]

329. Seynt of silk = girdle of silk. Cf. Eng. cincture.

=

332. Dayesye daisy; literally, day's eye. Chaucer's favorite flower. 334. By the morwe= early in the morning. Sop in wyn = bread dipped in wine; according to Bacon, more intoxicating than wine itself. 335. Wone pleasure, desire. Cf. Ger. Wonne, bliss.

336. Epicurus, a famous Greek philosopher, who assumed pleasure to be

the highest good.

337. Pleyn delyt = full delight or perfect physical enjoyment.

340. Seynt Julian = The patron saint of travellers and hospitality.

[blocks in formation]

not.

[merged small][ocr errors]

=

food and drink. See etymology of supper in

cage or coop.

350. Brem bream.

=

Luce = pike. · - Stewe =

fish-pond.

351. Woo was his cook woe was it to his cook. — But-if = unless, if

353. Table dormant. Previous to the fourteenth century the tables were rough boards laid on trestles; tables dormant, or with fixed legs, were then introduced, and standing in the hall were looked upon as evidences of hospitality.

[blocks in formation]

336. Knight of the schire = representative in Parliament.

=

=

357. Anlas = knife or dagger. Gipser pouch. 359. Schirreve governor. Countour compter, to count.

shire reeve, sheriff. Reeve, A. S. gerefa, = officer, auditor of accounts, or county treasurer. Cf. Fr.

=

360. Vavasour one next in dignity to a baron; landholder of the middle class.

=

=

361. Haberdasshere = dealer in "notions" -ribbons, pins, etc. 362. Webbe weaver. Cf. Ger. Weber. - Tapicer worker in tapestry. 363. Lyveré = livery; here the uniform of the trade guild to which they belonged.

365. Apiked = cleaned, kept neat.

366. I-chaped having plates of metal at the point of the sheath or scabbard.

[blocks in formation]

part, portion. A. S. dael, a portion. Cf. Eng. dole and

369. Burgeys = burgess; here a person of the middle class. 370. Geldehalle guild-hall. Deys

=

=

dais; here the raised platform

at the upper end of the hall, on which were seats for persons of distinction.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

377. Vigilies vigils, or eves of festival days, when the people were accustomed to meet at the church for merrymaking. They wore their best clothes, and the wealthier women had their mantles, which were brought for show as well as protection, carried by servants.

378. Riallyche

=

royally.

379. For the nones =

for the nonce. The older spelling is for then ones = for the once, for the occasion. The n, which is the sign of the dat. (A. S. tham, than), is carried over to the following word.

gale

380. Mary bones marrow bones.

381. Poudre-marchaunt tart = a tart or acid flavoring powder. - Galyn

[ocr errors]

the root of an aromatic species of sedge found in the south of England. 382. London ale was held in high esteem at that time.

384. Mortreux a kind of soup, of which the principal ingredients were fowl, fresh pork, bread-crumbs, eggs, and saffron; so called from being brayed in a mortar.

386. Mormal = cancer.

=

French mort-mal.

387. Blank manger blanc-mange, white food, composed of minced chicken, eggs, flour, sugar, and milk. This dish he could make with the best of his fellow-cooks.

388. Wonyng fer by weste = - dwelling far in the west. Cf. Ger. wohnen, to dwell.

389. Dertemouth = Dartmouth, on the south-west coast of England. 390. Rouncy = a common hack-horse. As he couthe = as well as he As a seaman, he was not accustomed to riding. 391. Gowne of faldyng gown or robe of coarse cloth. 392. Laas belt, strap. Cf. Eng. lace.

could.

=

[blocks in formation]

=

Bordeaux, a city of south-west France.

Chapman =

merchant or supercargo. A. S. ceap, trade, and mann, man.

401. Craft calling.

=

-

403. Herbergh = harbor, place of shelter. Cf. Eng. harbor. Mone = moon, as influencing the tides. Lodemenage = pilotage. Cf. Eng. lode,

lodestar, lodestone.

=

404. Hulle Hull, a seaport on the north-east coast of England. — Cartagena, a city on the south-east coast of Spain. 408. Gootland

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Gothland, an island in the Baltic belonging to Sweden.

- Fynystere Finisterre, a cape on the north-west coast of Spain.

[blocks in formation]

astrology, the art of judging of the influence of the stars on the human body, etc. The medical science of the Middle Ages paid attention to astrological and superstitious observances.

[blocks in formation]

417. Fortunen: to make fortunate. The practice here referred to is spoken of more fully in Chaucer's House of Fame, ll. 169–180:

"Ther saugh I pleyen jugelours

And clerkes cek, which conne wel
Alle this magike naturel,

That craftely doon her ententes
To maken in certeyn ascendentes
Ymages, lo! thrugh which magike

To make a man ben hool or syke."

420. The four humors of the body, to which all diseases were referred. 424. Boote remedy.

=

426. Dragges and his letuaries:

=

drugs and his electuaries.

429. Esculapius was the god of medicine among the Greeks.

430-434. The writers here mentioned were the leading medical authorities of the Middle Ages. Deyscorides, or Dioscorides, a physician in Cilicia of the first century. Rufus, a Greek physician of Ephesus of the time of Trajan. Ypocras, or Hippocrates, a Greek physician of the fourth century, called the father of medicine. Haly, an Arabian physician of the eleventh century. Galen, scarcely second in rank to Hippocrates, a Greek physician of the second century. Serapyon, an Arabian physician of the eleventh century. Rhasis was a Spanish Arab of the ninth century. Avycen, an Arabian physician of the eleventh century. Averrois, or Averroes, an Arabian scholar of the twelfth century. Damascien, or Damascenus, an Arabian physician of the ninth century. Constantyn, or Constantius Afer, a physician of Carthage, and one of the founders of the University of Salerno. Bernard, a professor of medicine at Montpellier in France, and contemporary of Chaucer. Gatesden, or John of Gaddesden, physician to Edward III., the first Englishman to hold the position of royal physician Gilbertyn, supposed to be the celebrated Gilbertus Anglicus.

439. Sangwin and in pers 440. Taffata = thin silk.

for lining.

441. Esy of dispense

=

= a cloth of blood-red and sky-blue (pers).

- Sendal = a rich, thin silk, highly esteemed

moderate in his expenditures.

442. Wan in pestilence =won in pestilence; a reference to the great pestilence of 1348 and 1349.

445. Of byside Bathe from near Bath.

[blocks in formation]

=

somewhat. Skathe 1=3

misfortune, loss. A. S. sceathan,

to harm, injure. Cf. Eng., scathe, and Ger. schaden.

[ocr errors][merged small]

448. Ypres and Ghent (Gaunt) were the greatest cloth-markets on the continent.

450. To the offryng. An allusion to Relic Sunday, when the people I went to the altar to kiss the relics.

=

453. Keverchefs kerchief, a square piece of cloth used to cover the head. French couvre-chef, the latter coming from Lat. caput.

457. Moyste

[ocr errors]

soft, supple.

460. Marriages were celebrated at the door of the church.
462. As nouthe
Nouthe =now the

now, at present.

[ocr errors]

=

at present.

= now + then, just

465. Boloyne Bologna, where was preserved an image of the Virgin Mary.

[ocr errors]

=

466. In Galicia at the shrine of St. James. It was believed that the body of the apostle had been conveyed thither. Coloyne Cologne, where the bones of the three wise men or kings of the East, who came to see the infant Jesus, are said to be preserved.

[blocks in formation]

468. Gat-tothed. This word is variously explained. Equivalent, perhaps, to gap-toothed, having the teeth some distance apart.

470. Y-wympled = having a wimple or covering for the neck. See note on 1. 151.

= a riding-skirt probably.

472. Foot-mantel : 473. Spores spurs.

=

474. Carpe = to jest, chaff. It now means to find fault with.

476. The olde daunce

[ocr errors]

the old game, or customs.

478. Persoun of a toun a parish priest or parson. Lat. persona. Blackstone says: “A parson, persona ecclesiæ, is one that hath full possession of all the rights of a parochial church. He is called parson, persona, because by his person the church, which is an invisible body, is represented." Skeat justly observes that "this reason may well be doubted, but without affecting the etymology."

482. Parischens

485. Sithes

486. Loth

[blocks in formation]

= times. A. S. sith, time. Cf. Ger., Zeit.

=

odious, hateful. It was odious to him to excommunicate

those who failed to pay tithes due him.

489. Offrynge = voluntary contributions of his parishioners.- Substance

= income of his benefice or the property he had acquired.

492. Ne lafte not = did not cease.

493. Meschief = misfortune.

494. Moche and lite = great and small.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

He did not let out his parish to a strange curate, while he ran to London to seek a chantry at St. Paul's a more congenial and lucrative employment. The chantries were endowments for singing masses for souls.

« 上一頁繼續 »