Part 1 (1/2)
A Concise Dictionary of Middle English.
by A. L. Mayhew and Walter W. Skeat.
PREFACE
(+By Professor Skeat+.)
The present work is intended to meet, in some measure, the requirements of those who wish to make some study of Middle-English, and who find a difficulty in obtaining such a.s.sistance as will enable them to find out the meanings and etymologies of the words most essential to their purpose.
The best Middle-English Dictionary, that by Dr. Matzner of Berlin, has only reached the end of the letter H; and it is probable that it will not be completed for many years. The only Middle-English Dictionary that has been carried on to the end of the alphabet is that by the late Dr.
Stratmann, of Krefeld. This is a valuable work, and is indispensable for the more advanced student. However, the present work will still supply a deficiency, as it differs from Stratmann's Dictionary in many particulars. We have chosen as our Main Words, where possible, the most typical of the forms or spellings of the period of Chaucer and Piers Plowman; in Stratmann, on the other hand, the form chosen as Main Word is generally the oldest form in which it appears, frequently one of the twelfth century. Moreover, with regard to authorities, we refer in the case of the great majority of our forms to a few, cheap, easily accessible works, whereas Stratmann's authorities are mainly the numerous and expensive publications of the Early English Text Society.
Lastly, we have paid special attention to the French element in Middle-English, whereas Stratmann is somewhat deficient in respect of words of French origin[1]. The book which has generally been found of most a.s.sistance to the learner is probably Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words; but this is not specially confined to the Middle-English period, and the plan of it differs in several respects from that of the present work.
[Footnote 1: A new and thoroughly revised edition of Stratmann's Dictionary is being prepared by Mr. Henry Bradley, for the Delegates of the Clarendon Press.]
The scope of this volume will be best understood by an explanation of the circ.u.mstances that gave rise to it. Some useful and comparatively inexpensive volumes ill.u.s.trative of the Middle-English period have been issued by the Clarendon Press; all of which are furnished with glossaries, explaining all the important words, with exact references to the pa.s.sages wherein the words occur. In particular, the three useful hand-books containing Specimens of English (from 1150 down to 1580) together supply no less than sixty-seven characteristic extracts from the most important literary monuments of this period; and the three glossaries to these books together fill more than 370 pages of closely-printed type in double columns. The idea suggested itself that it would be highly desirable to bring the very useful information thus already collected _under one alphabet_, and this has now been effected.
At the same time, a reference has in every case been carefully given to the _particular_ Glossarial Index which registers each form here cited, so that it is perfectly easy for any one who consults our book to refer, not merely to the particular Index thus noted, but to the references given in that Index; and so, by means of such references, to find every pa.s.sage referred to, with its proper context. Moreover the student only requires, for this purpose, a small array of the text-books in the Clarendon Press Series, instead of a more or less complete set of editions of Middle-English texts, the possession of which necessitates a considerable outlay of money. By this plan, so great a _compression_ of information has been achieved, that a large number of the articles give a summary such as can be readily expanded to a considerable length, by the exercise of a very little trouble; and thus the work is practically as full of material as if it had been three or four times its present size. A couple of examples will shew what this really means.
At p. 26 is the following entry:--
'+Bi-heste+, _sb._ promise, S, S2, C2, P; +byheste+, S2; +beheste+, S2; +byhest+, S2; +bihese+, S; +biheest+, W; +bihese+, _pl._, S.--AS.
_be-h?s_.'
By referring to the respective indexes here cited, such as S (= Glossary to Specimens of English, Part I), and the like, we easily expand this article into the following:--
'+Bi-heste+, _sb._ promise, S (9. 19); S2 (1a. 184); C2 (B 37, 41, 42, F 698); P (3. 126); +byheste+, S2 (18b. 25); +beheste+, S2 (14a. 3); +byhest+, S2 (12. 57, 18b. 9, [where it may also be explained by _grant_]); +bihese+, S (where it is used as a plural); +biheest+, W (promise, command, Lk. xxiv. 49, Rom. iv. 13; pl. _biheestis_, Heb. xi.
13); +bihese+, S (_pl._ behests, promises, 4d. 55).--AS. _beh?s_.'
In order to exhibit the full meaning of this--which requires no further explanation to those who have in hand the books denoted by S, S2, &c.--it would be necessary to print the article at considerable length, as follows:--
'+Biheste+, _sb._ promise; ”dusi _biheste_” a foolish promise, (extract from) Ancren Riwle, l. 19; ”and wel lute wule hulde e _biheste_ at he nom,” (extract from) Robert of Gloucester, l. 184; ”holdeth your _biheste_,” Chaucer, Introd. to Man of Law's Prologue, l. 37; ”_biheste_ is dette,” same, l. 41; ”al my _biheste_” same, l. 42; ”or breken his _biheste_” Chaucer, sequel to Squieres Tale, l. 698; ”orw fals _biheste_,” Piers Plowman, Text B, Pa.s.s. iii, l. 126; ”to vol-vulle (fulfil) at _byheste_” Trevisa (extract from), lib. vi. cap. 29, l. 25; ”the lond of promyssioun, or of _beheste_,” Prol. to Mandeville's Travels, l. 3; ”wi fair _by-hest_,” William and the Werwolf, l. 57; ”e _byhest_ (promise, _or_ grant) of oere menne kyngdom,” Trevisa, lib.
vi. cap. 29, l. 9; ”y schal sende the _biheest_ of my fadir in-to ?ou,”
Wyclif, Luke xxiv. 49; ”not bi the lawe is _biheest_ to Abraham,” Wycl.
Rom. iv. 13; ”whanne the _biheestis_ weren not takun,” Wycl. Heb. xi.
13; ”longenge to G.o.des _bihese_” Old Eng. Homilies, Dominica iv. post Pascha, l. 55.'
We thus obtain fifteen excellent examples of the use of this word, with the full context and an exact reference (easily verified) in every case.
And, in the above instance, all the quotations lie within the compa.s.s of the eleven texts in the Clarendon Press Series denoted, respectively, by S, S2, S3, C, C2, C3, W, W2, P, H, and G.
The original design was to make use of these text-books only; but it was so easy to extend it by including examples to be obtained from other Glossaries and Dictionaries, that a considerable selection of interesting words was added from these, mainly for the sake of ill.u.s.trating the words in the Clarendon text-books. These ill.u.s.trative words can be fully or partially verified by those who happen to possess all or some of the works cited, or they can safely be taken on trust, as really occurring there, any mistake being due to such authority.
A second example will make this clearer. '+Brant+, _adj._ steep, high, MD, HD; +brent+, JD; +brentest+, _superl._ S2.--AS. _brant_ (_bront_); cp. Swed. _brant_, Icel. _brattr_.'
Omitting the etymology, the above information is given in two short lines. Those who possess the 'Specimens of English' will easily find the example of the superl. _brentest_. By consulting Matzner's, Halliwell's, and Jamieson's Dictionaries, further information can be obtained, and the full article will appear as follows:--
'+Brant+, _adj._ steep, high, MD [+brant+, +brent+, _adj._ ags. _brand_, arduus, altus, altn. _brattr_, altschw. _branter_, schw. _brant_, _bratt_, dan, _brat_, sch. _brent_, nordengl. Diall. _brant_: cf.
”_brant_, steepe,” Manipulus Vocabulorum, p. 25: steil, hoch.--”Apon the bald Bucifelon _brant_ up he sittes,” King Alexander, ed. Stevenson, p. 124; ”Thir mountaynes ware als _brant_ uprit?e as thay had bene walles,” MS. quoted in Halliwell's Dict., p. 206; ”Hy?e bonkkes & _brent_,” Gawain and the Grene Knight, l. 2165; ”Bowed to e hy? bonk er _brentest_ hit wern,” Alliterative Poems, ed. Morris, Poem B, l. 379]; HD [+brant+, steep. _North_: ”Brant against Flodden Hill,”