Selections from Early Middle English, 1130-1250. Part 2: Notes
General
Selections from Early Middle English, 1130-1250. Part 2: Notes
English literature -- Middle English, 1100-1500
51-55. The source of this passage is probably, ‘Linus papa . . .
constituit ut mulieres in ecclesia velatae sint. Et hoc propter tres
causas fit: una est, cum sint decipula diaboli, ne laxis earum crinibus
iuvenum animi illaqueentur; . . . tertia est ut reatus originalis
peccati, qui per mulierem evenit, ad memoriam nobis revocetur. Iudex
quippe malorum est Christus: sacerdos eius vicarius. Ante sacerdotem
ergo debet se mulier velare velut rea et tanti mali sibi conscia coram
iudice celare. Unde dicit Apostolus, ut mulier velata sit propter
angelos, id est sacerdotes,’ Honorius Augustodunensis (Migne, P. L.
clxxii) 589 d. #sunfule# goes with eue; comp. 63/44.
52. #on earst#, at the beginning, would correspond to OE. *#on ǣrest#,
which is apparently not found: OE. #on ǣr# means beforehand. Comp. ‘on
erest,’ AR 264/8; ‘on earst,’ SM 14/7; ‘on alre earst,’ HM 17/25; SM
14/4. The phrase is confined to AR and its group; elsewhere at erst is
used.
53. #drahe#, divert from their proper use: a rare meaning. #tiffunge#,
adornment.
54. If #ȝetten# means yet, furthermore, it repeats and reinforces #Eft#.
As a form it seems to be quite isolated: it may be derived from ȝette
and owe its final _n_ to the influence of such pairs as ofte, often;
uppe, uppen; buten, bute; seþþen, seþþe. #ȝette# 47 C is also a rare
form; comp. 76/19; HM 13/9, 43/13; ‘ewt ꝥ mon seið þe oðer deð ȝette,’
id. 43/21. It can hardly come from #gīeta#, which gives ȝete; perhaps it
is for ȝet + þe, like þætte for þæt þe: þe ȝet is frequent in Layamon.
55. #þurh hire onsihðe#, through the seeing of her: comp. 124/253,
perhaps the only other place where the word occurs: it is possibly
formed on the analogy of OE. #ansīen#. #Et hoc# &c.: ‘Ideo debet mulier
potestatem habere supra caput propter Angelos,’ 1 Cor. xi. 10.
56. #iwimplet#: the writer is addressing an imaginary disciple who
insists on the wimple as satisfying the requirements of S. Paul. He
replies that the apostle requires more; the face also must be veiled;
his words are directed against the recluse who receives visits from men.
The wimple can be dispensed with by the recluse who keeps within her
walls and avoids the sight of men. The visits of various people to the
recluse are often referred to; see AR 56/20, 58/5, 68/16.
57. #þe# is for þe þe, as in C and at 64/60.
59. #wel# is a mistake for þurl due to anticipation of the following
wel. Three windows are mentioned, that looking into the church, the
‘chirche þurl,’ AR 68/16; the parlour window, through which they
converse with visitors and communicate with the servants, the ‘þurl’ of
74/209, AR 68/19; and the house window, the ‘rund windowe’ of the text.
Each window was hung inside and out with black cloths marked with a
white cross, AR 50/2, 96/10, and furnished with shutters; compare the
elaborate regulations for the windows in the Gilbertine Rule, Dugdale,
*lxxv. #wel mei duhen#: see 62/22 note: #ancre# is dative.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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