3811. Tyrwhitt inserted _al_ before _aboute_ in his text, but withdrew it in his notes. The A. S. has _hand-br[=æ]d_, but the M. E. _hand-e-brede_ had at least three syllables, if not four. This is shewn by MS. spellings and by the metre, and still more clearly by Wyclif's Bible, which has: 'a spanne, that is, an _handibreede_,' Ezek. xl. 5 (later version). It may have been formed by analogy with M. E. _handiwerk_ (A. S. _hand-geweorc_) and _handewrit_ (A. S. _hand-gewrit_). But the form is _handbrede_ in Palladius on Husbandry, p. 80, l. 536. 3818. _Nowelis flood_ is the mistake of the illiterate carpenter for _Noes flood_; see it again in l. 3834, where he is laughed at for having used the expression in his previous talks with the clerk and his wife. It is on a par with his _astromye_ (note to l. 3451). He was less familiar with the _Noe_ of the Bible than with the _Nowel_ of the [112] carol-singers at Christmas; see F. 1255. The editors carefully 'correct' the poet. In l. 3834, _Nowélis_ helps the scansion, whilst _Noes_ spoils the line, which has to be 'amended.' The readings are: E. Hn. _as in the text_; Cm. Pt. Ln. the Nowels flood; Pt. the Noes flood; Hl. He was agast and feerd of Noes flood. Tyrwhitt actually reads; He was agast-e so of Noes flood; regardless of the fact that _agast_ has no final _-e_. The carpenter's mistake is the more pardonable when we notice that _Noë_ was sometimes used, instead of _Noël_, to mean 'Christmas.' For an example, see the Poètes de Champagne, Reims, 1851, p. 146. 3821. This singular expression is from the French. Tyrwhitt cites:-- 'Ainc tant come il mist a descendre, Ne trouva point de pain a vendre,' i. e. he found no bread to sell in his descent. His reference is to the Fabliaux, t. ii. p. 282; Wright refers, for the same, to the fabliau of Aloul, in Barbazan, l. 591. I suppose the sense is, 'he never stopped, as if to transact business.' 3822. E. Hn. celle; _rest_ selle. The word _celle_ might mean 'chamber.' There was an approach to the roof, which they had reached by help of a ladder; and the three tubs were hung among the balks which formed the roof of the principal sitting-room below. But it is difficult to see how the word _celle_ could be applied to the chief room in the house. Tyrwhitt explains _selle_ as 'door-sill or threshold'; but we must bear in mind that the _usual_ M. E. form of _sill_ was either _sille_ or _sulle_, from A. S. _syll_. The spelling with _s_ proves nothing, since Chaucer undoubtedly means 'cell' in A. 1376, where Cm. Hl. have _selle_, and in B. 3162, where three MSS. (Cp. Pt. Ln.) all read _selle_ again. Why the carpenter should have arrived at the door-sill, I do not know.