Chaucer: Canterbury Tales.

A.

Abide, v. 17, to attend on, as a

physician his patient.

About, i. II, out of; A. S. ábútan

for onbútan = on-be-útan, on by the outside. Abouts, ix. 36, around. Accord, x. 50; xii. 15, to grant; O. Fr. acorder, to agree; L. Lat. accordare, from Lat. ad cordem, in agreement with the heart. Acquite, viii. I, to release; O. Fr. aquiter, to settle a claim; L. Lat. acquietare, which is from quietus, discharged, free; see Brachet, (s. v. quitte). Acquit, vii. 52, pp. Address, ii. 11, to prepare, clothe, arm; X. II, to direct; O. Fr. adresser, formed from L. Lat. drictus, Lat. directus, straight, just. Afflicted, Introd. 4, low, humble; the verb to afflict is from Lat. afflictus, dashed to the ground; pp. of affligere.

Affronted, to be, viii. 13, to be confronted, encountered, opposed; O. Fr. afronter; L. Lat. affrontare, from Lat. ad frontem, to the forehead.

Afore, x. 49, in front; A.S. onforan, before.

Aghast, ix. 21, struck with horror. Rightly spelt agast, which is the common form of the pp. of the O. Eng. agasten, to terrify. Agasten is from A. S. intensive prefix á (=Ger. er-), and A. S. gæstan, to terrify, torment. The A S. root gæs meant primarily to fix, stick; hence, to root to the spot

with terror, cp. Lat. hær-ere, to stick fast. See Skeat (s. v.). Agraste, x. 18, shewed grace and favour; pret. of the verb aggrace; It. aggraziáre.

Albe, v. 45, although; al beo, (quamvis) occurs in the Ancren Riwle (A.D. 1220); the al prefixed shews the completeness of the concession made; we have still albeit. Alight, is, iii. 20, is lighted upon; the prefix a- stands here for on(as in the words afloat, afoot for 'on float,' ' on foot'). The A. S. simple form is lihtan, the radical sense of which is 'to render light,' 'to remove a burden from,' hence, 'to alight (from horseback)'. In xii. 25 the verb to alight occurs in the sense of halting in a hasty course.

All, x. 47; xii. 23, although; see Albe.

Aloof, xi. 5, away, at a distance; the prefix a- stands for on-; aloof, (for on loof) had orig. the same sense as the equivalent Du. phrase te loef, i. e. to windward. Hence to hold aloof is literally to keep the ship to windward, to prevent it from drifting on to the leeward object, by keeping the head of the ship away. The Du. loef is cognate with our luff. See Skeat (s.vv. aloof, luff).

Als, ix. 18, also; one of the spellings of A. S. eal swá, which means both 'just so' and 'just as,' and is represented in mod. Eng. both by also and as.

Amate, ix. 45, to daúnt, subdue; O. Fr. amatir, from mat, weak, dull. The O. Fr. mat was orig. a chess term, like our mate in check-mate, which represents the Pers. shah mát, 'the King is dead.' Mát is from the Arab. máta, he died.

Amis, iv. 18, amice, a priestly vestment; O. Fr. amis. In Cotgrave we find Fr. 'amict, an amict, or amice; part of a massing priest's habit'; Lat. amictus. Amount, ix. 54, to amount up, ascend; O. Fr. amonter (cited by Skeat), from amont 'uphill '; Lat. ad montem, to a mountain. Amove, iv. 45; viii. 21; ix. 18, to

move; the prefix a- is here an imitation of the Mid. Eng. prefix y- or i-, the A. S. ge-; so aware stands for Mid. Eng. ywar A. S. gewær. See y-.

Andvile, xi. 42, anvil; A. S. anfilte,

which is from the A. S. prefix an(=on-) and fyllan, to fell, make to fall. So the Lat. incus, an anvil, is from in, upon; and cudere, to hammer.

Annoy, i. 22, 41, to vex, trouble;

vi. 17, subst. annoyance, vexation, chagrin; annoy is the O. Fr. anoi, enui (mod. Fr. ennui), Sp. enojo, Old It. inodio, from Lat. in odio, lit. in hatred, which was used in the phrase in odio habui, lit. I had in hatred, i.e. I was sick and tired of (Diez); see Skeat (s.v.). Appease, iii. 29, pacify, quiet; O. Fr. apaisier, from O. Fr. a pais = Lat. ad pacem, to a peace. Apply, x. 46, attend to. Ne other worldly busines did apply' may mean 'nor did apply himself to other business.' But perhaps in this passage apply, like the Lat. applicare, may mean 'to add, join;' 'nor did he add any other business.' Arber, vi. 7, a bower made of

branches of trees; a corruption of harbour, a shelter. The spelling arber is due to a confusion with the O. Eng. herbere; O. Fr. herbier, a garden of herbs (from Lat. herbarium), the Fr. initial h being weak. The Lat. arbor, a tree, has also no doubt exercised an influence on the present form of the word-arbour. See Skeat (s.v.). Aread, viii. 31, 33; ix. 6, 23; x. 51, 64, to interpret, explain, tell; xii. 28, to advise; ared. pp. x. 17; O. Eng. aræden, to explain (see Stratmann's Dict.). Cp. Read. Arise, vi. 32, to rise out of; the

prefix á- in this case is equivalent to Goth, us- out of: cp. Goth. urreisan to arise, Matt. viii. 15. For prefix á- cp. aghast.

Arras, iv. 6, viii. 35, tapestry; so named from Arras, in Artois. Aslake, iii. 36, to abate the fury of; lit. to slacken, to make slow; O. Eng. aslakien, from A. S. aslacian. (Stratmann); A.S.sleac, slack, slow. Assay, ii. 13, proved value; O. Fr. essai, a trial, from Lat. exagium, a weighing, a trial of exact weight. [The spelling assay is due to the O. Fr. assaier, asaier (Bartsch), another spelling of essaier, to judge of a thing.] Exagium is from the Gk. gáyiov, a weighing; Diez (s.v. saggio). Hence to assay, ii. 24; iv. 8; viii. 2; xi. 32, to try, attempt. Assoiled, x. 52, absolved. The form assoile is due to the O. F. assoldre, Chanson de Roland, 1133, 'asoldrai vus,' I will give you absolution; see Brachet (s.v. absoudre).

see

Astond, ii. 31 (astonied, vi. 9; astound, ix. 35), astonished, amazed; O. Eng. astonien, A. S. ástunian, to stun completely, cognate with Ger. erstaunen, to amaze. See Skeat (s.v.).

Aswaged, iii. 5, grew mild (neut.); O. Fr. asuager, to soften; Prov. asuaviar; Lat. ad + suavis. (Cp. Fr. cage from Lat. cavea.) Atchieve, v. I, to accomplish; O. Fr. achever, achiever, formed from the phrase venir a chef (chief), Lat. ad caput venire, to come to an end; see Brachet. From the subst. atchievement is derived atch'ment (now hatchment) the escutcheon of a deceased person, publicly displayed.

Attach, xii. 35, to seize, arrest; O. Eng. attachen, to arrest, much in use as a law term. To attach is lit. to fasten with a tack or small nail. See Diez (s.v. tacco). Attaint, vii. 34, to obscure, discol

our; Cp. Fr. teindre, Lat. tingere. Avale, i. 21, to fall, sink; O. Fr. avaler, to descend, from aval, Lat. ad vallem. Hence the Alpine word avalanche, a descent of snow into the valley.

B.

Bains, xii. 36, banns (of marriage), spelt banes in Sir T. More, Works; see Skeat (s.v.); A. S. ge-bann, a proclamation. Hence Bandit (It. bandito) a robber, lit. a proclaimed (outlaw).

Baite, i. 32, to feed, refresh; lit. to

make to bite; an instance of an English causative verb; O. N. beita to make to bite, the causal of O. N. bíta, to bite. To bait a bear (a phrase occurring in Havelok, A.D. 1280) is to make the dogs bite him. To bait a horse is to make him eat. Bale, viii. 14, mischief, trouble; vii. 28, 39; ix. 16, 29, grief, sorrow; Chaucer, 13409; A. S. bealu, disaster, destruction.

Bard, v. 3, a poet. A Celtic word. Wel. Bardd, Ir. Bard.

Bastard, vi. 24, mean, lowborn; O. Fr. bast-ard. Wyllam bastard,' a nickname of William the Conqueror. For origin of word, see Diez (s.v. bastardo), and Skeat (s.v.). For suffix -ard see hagard. Battailous, v. 2, fit for battle. Bauldrick, vii. 29, baldric, belt; the O. Eng. baudric (Chaucer) came to us through the French baldric (baudré, Bartsch) from the O. H. G. balderich. Hence also the L. Lat. baldringus (Ducange). Balderich is an extended form of O. H. G. balz (palz); cp. O. N. belti.

Baye, vii. 3, to bathe; see Embaye.

Bead, i. 30, a prayer; this is the original sense of 'bead'; a perforated ball was afterwards called 'a bead,' because used for counting prayers. A. S. bed (gebed, cp. Ger. gebet), a prayer, is derived from the verb biddan, to pray; see Bid. Become, x. 16, gone to, arrived. A. S. becuman. Became, x. 66, suited; a later developed meaning of the same becuman. So in the Southern Homilies, p. 45, A.D. 1160; see Oliphant, p. 178. Bed, ix. 41, bid.

Bedight, xii. 21, dressed, adorned; see Dight.

Beheast, iv. 18, behest, command; be- prefix, and hest. Hest with final excrescent, as in agains-t, amongs-t, is from A. S. hés, a command, which is from hátan, to command.

Behight, x. 64, name, pronounce; x. 50, pp. entrusted; behot, xi. 38, pp. promised; O. E. biháten to promise, from A. S. hátan. Cp. Beheast. See Stratmann (s.v. biháten).

Beseem, viii. 32, to be becoming; 'Becemyn, decet.' Prompt. Parv. P. 27.

Beseene, xii. 5, pp. displayed, 'well beseene,' well to look at; A. S. besegen, pp. of beseón, from seón, to see. Cp. Chaucer, 8841, 'yvel biseye'=ill to look at ; 8860, 'richely biseye' = rich looking, splendid.

Bespeak, ii. 32, speak; A. S. besprecan; O. Eng. bispeken. Used in this sense five times in Milton's Poems; see Concordance. Bestedd, i. 24, situated, circumstanced; generally ill bestead.' Apparently of Scandinavian origin. Cp. Dan. være ilde bestedt, to be ill bestead, to be badly off. O. N. staðr, a place; A. S. stæð; Eng. stead (as in home-stead); see sted. Bet, iii. 19, did beat.

Betake, xii. 25, entrust, deliver,

hand over to; this is the ordinary meaning in O. Eng. Cp. Ich bitake min soule God'=I commit my soul to God. Rob. of Glouc. P. 475 (Skeat). In v. 28; ix. 44 the word stands for 'to betake (one self).' It is from A. S. prefix be- or bi-, and O. Eng. taken, which is a Scandinavian word from O. N. taka, to take, deliver. Bethinke, vi. 16, to think on, consider; O. Eng. bithinken, A. S. bithencan.

Bethrall, viii. 28, to take captive, imprison; see Thrall.

Bever, vii. 31, beaver, the part of the helmet which, when let down, covered the face; Fr. bavière. Cp. Cotgrave (s. v.), Bavière d'un armet, the beaver of a helmet'

'Bavière, a bib,' from 'Bave, slaver, drivell at the mouth.' Bewaile, vi. 1. Very singularly

used by Spenser; apparently for to cause, or compass' (Nares, s. v.). The editors Upton and R. Morris give to this word the meaning to choose, select, connecting it with O.Eng. wale, O.N. velja, to choose.

Bewray, iv. 39, to disclose; prop. to accuse; in A. V. Matt. xxvi. 73, thy speech bewrayeth thee' (so Tyndale, A.D. 1526). From A. S. wrégan; agunnon hine wrégan,' they began to accuse him, Luke xxiii. 2. Cp. Ger. rügen, to censure.

Bid, i. 30, to pray; A. S. biddan, to pray; cp. Ger. bitten. This word is nearly obsolete, but we still speak of 'a bidding prayer.' It is probably unconnected with the verb bid, to command. See Bead. Bilive, v. 32; bylive, ix. 4, also

written blive, forthwith, quickly; A. S. bi life, with life, O. Eng. bi live, quickly. See Stratmann (s.v. lif).

Blame, ii. 18, injury, hurt; so in Book III. i. 9. The Eng. verb blame is from O. Fr. blasmer; Lat. blasphemare, used in the sense 'to blame' by Gregory of Tours, from Gr. βλασφημεῖν, to speak ill of any one.

Blaze, xi. 7, to spread far and wide, to proclaim; so Marki. 45 (A.V.) 'Began to blaze abroad the matter. O. Eng. blasen used by Chaucer, House of Fame, iii. 711, to express the loud sounding of a trumpet. Cp. O. N. blása, to blow (a trumpet). From this root comes Fr. blason, a coat of arms, implying glory proclaimed far and

wide.

Bless, vii. 12; ix. 28, to preserve, deliver; v. 6; viii. 22, to brandish. Dr. Johnson thought this latter sense was derived from the action used in benediction. See Nares' Glossary (s.v.). Bless is a derivative from blood, representing a form blódisón, to redden (the altar) with blood; so Sweet in the Academy (No. 404).

Blot, x. 27, a blemish; O.N. ölettr, a spot, stain.