Early English Alliterative Poems: in the West-Midland Dialect of the Fourteenth Century
Religion
Early English Alliterative Poems: in the West-Midland Dialect of the Fourteenth Century
English poetry -- Middle English, 1100-1500
l. 905 _stemme no stepe_, stop (keep back), no step. Cf. our modern
phrase “_stem_ the tide.”
909 _losen_, destroy.
911 _gorde_, rush.
912 _clater_, shatter.
915 _kynned_, kindled.
916 _þe brath of his breth_, the fierceness of his wrath.
918 _foo-schip_, enmity.
921 _walle_ = _wale_, choose; _wonnyng_, dwelling, abode.
927 _vtter_, without.
928 _wore_ = _ware_ = were. Cf. _thore_ = _thare_ = there.
931 _agayn-tote_, looking back; _tote_ (toot) occurs frequently with
the sense of “to peep,” “look,” in Early English.
P. 64.
l. 944 _Loke ȝe bowe now bi bot_, Look ye go now by (according to)
command.
947 _greme_, wrath.
948 _wakan_, arouse, stir up.
950 _flytande_, chiding, murmuring.
955 _smachande_, savouring, smelling.
964 _riftes_, fissures.
965 _cloutes_, pieces.
969 _Rydelles_ = _redeless_ = without counsel, helpless; _rowtes_,
companies.
971
_Such a ȝomerly ȝarm of ȝellyng þer rysed_,
Such a mournful (pitiful) outcry of yelling there rose.
P. 65.
l. 976 _Trynande ay a hyȝe trot_, going ever (at) a great pace.
987 _loueȝ_, not _loaves_, but = the provincial _looves_ = hands.
989 _dampped_ = _dumped_, beaten down.
991 _malscrande mere_, accursed lake.
992 _on a lawe_, on a hill.
1000 _& alle lyste on hir lik_ (i.e. _lick_) _þat arn on launde
bestes._
“Als so sco loked hir behind,
A stan sco standes bi þat way
And sua sal do to domesday;
In a salt stan men seis hir stand
Þat best likes o þat land;
Þat anes o þe wok day,
Þan is sco liked al away
And þan þai find hir on þe morn,
Hale als sco was ar beforn.”
(Cott. MS. Vesp. A. iii. fol. 17b.)
1002 _niye_, anguish.
P. 66.
l. 1009 _a roþun of a reche_, a rush of smoke, a mass of vapour;
_blake_, the black (pit).
1011 _flot_, fat, grease.
1016 _drouy_, turbid, from _droue_, to trouble.
1024 _costeȝ of kynde_ = natural properties.
1030 _boþem broþely_, filthy pit.
1031 _losyng_, perdition.
1033 _coosteȝ_ = properties.
1035 _alkaran_, Mandeville employs the term _alkatran_;
_angré_ = poisonous or grievous, or _augre_ = _aigre_, sharp.
1036 _saundyuer_ = _sandiver_, glass-gall.
1037 _waxlokes_, waves.
1038 _spuniande_, cleaving, sticky.
1039 _se halues_, sea coasts.
1041 _terne_ = _tarne_, lake.
1044 _apple garnade_ = pomegranate.
P. 67.
l. 1072 _kynned_, conceived.
1076 _a schepon_ = a stable.
P. 68.
l. 1079 _reflayr_, smell, odour; _rote_, decay.
1082 _þe reken fyþel_, the merry fiddle.
1094 _lomerande blynde_, the hesitating (slow, creeping), blind.
The primitive meaning of _lomerande_ seems to be that of _slow_,
sluggish.
1108 _tyȝt_, endeavour.
P. 69.
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