Chaucer's Works, Volume 5 — Notes to the Canterbury TalesChaucer, Geoffrey
General
Chaucer's Works, Volume 5 — Notes to the Canterbury Tales
Chaucer, Geoffrey
Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400. Canterbury tales -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
1689. _maner doctrine_, kind of learning, i. e. reading and singing, as
explained below. Here again _of_ is omitted, as is usual in M.E. after the
word _maner_; as--'In another _maner_ name,' Rob. of Glouc. vol. i. p. 147;
'with somme _manere_ crafte,' P. Plowman, B. v. 25: 'no _maner_ wight,' Ch.
Prol. A. 71; &c. See Mätzner, Englische Grammatik, ii. 2. 313. _men used_,
people used; equivalent to _was used_. Note this use of _men_ in the same
sense as the French _on_, or German _man_. This is an excellent instance,
as the poet does not refer to _men_ at all, but to _children_. Moreover,
_men_ (spelt _me_ in note to B. 1702) is an attenuated form of the sing.
_man_, and not the usual plural.
1693. _clergeon_, not 'a young clerk' merely, as Tyrwhitt says, but a
happily chosen word implying that he was a chorister as well. Ducange
gives--'_Clergonus_, junior clericus, vel puer choralis; jeune clerc, petit
clerc ou enfant de choeur'; see Migne's edition. And Cotgrave
has--'_Clergeon_, a singing man, or Quirester in a Queer [choir].' It means
therefore 'a chorister-boy.' Cf. Span. _clerizon_, a chorister,
singing-boy; see New E. Dict.
1694. _That_, as for whom. A London street-boy would say--'_which_ he was
used to go to school.' _That ... his_ = whose.
1695. _wher-as_, where that, where. So in Shakespeare, 2 Hen. VI. i. 2. 58;
Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 38. See Abbott's Shakesp. Grammar, sect. 135.
_thimage_, the image; alluding to an image of the Virgin placed by the
wayside, as is so commonly seen on the continent.
1698. _Ave Marie_; so in Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 35. The words were--'Aue
Maria, gratia plena; Dominus tecum; benedicta tu in mulieribus, et
benedictus fructus uentris tui. Amen.' See the English version in Specimens
of Early English, ed. Morris and Skeat, p. 106. It was made up from Luke i.
28 and i. 42. Sometimes the word _Jesus_ was added after _tui_, and, at a
later period, an additional clause--'Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis
peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.' See Rock, Church of
our Fathers, iii. 315; and iii. pt. 2, 134. [177]
1702. 'For a good child will always learn quickly.' This was a proverbial
expression, and may be found in the Proverbs of Hending, st. 9:--
'Me may lere a sely fode [_one may teach a good child_]
That is euer toward gode
With a lutel lore;
Yef me nul [_if one will not_] him forther teche,
Thenne is [_his_] herte wol areche
Forte lerne more.
_Sely chyld is sone ylered_; Quoth Hendyng.'
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