GLOSSARY

      

 

I’ve provided this glossary in the new edition of For My Lady’s Heart as a small glimpse into the fascinating history of our language. Some of the words listed have other definitions, but here they are limited to the meanings I used in this book. I’ve given alternate spellings, for those who wish to investigate further in dictionaries, and a couple of grammar hints for those of you who like to go around talking to your friends like this. You know who you are!

 

Abbreviations: ME (Middle English); OE (Old English); OF (Old French); L (Latin)

 

aghlich (also awly; OE, ME)—Terrifying, dreadful 

 

alaunt (OF)—A wolf-hound

 

ambs-ace (L, OF "both aces, double ace," the lowest possible throw at dice)—Worthlessness, nought, next to nothing. 

 

a’plight (OE, "pledge")—In faith, truly, certainly, surely, in truth

 

austringer (OF)—A keeper of goshawks 

 

aventail (OF, "air-hole")—The movable mouthpiece of a helmet

 

avoi (also avoy; OF, unknown origin)—General exclamation of surprise or fear

 

besant (also bezant; OF "Byzantium," where it was first minted)—A type of gold or silver coin; a gold button

 

caitiff (also caytif; OF)—A base, mean, despicable wretch

 

camelot (also camlot, cameline; OF)—A light, plush fabric supposedly made from camel’s hair; a garment made of this fabric

 

cheap (OE)—A purchase, a bargain

 

ciclatoun (OF, possibly from Arabic)—A precious material; cloth of gold or other rich material 

 

comelych (ME)—Comely, lovely 

 

comlokkest (ME)—Comeliest, most handsome 

 

coquin (also cokin; OF)—Rogue, rascal

 

cote-hardie (also cotehardi, OF)—A close-fitting outer garment with sleeves, worn by both sexes 

 

cuirass (OF)—Breast-plate and back-plate armor 

 

cuir bouilli (OF, literally "boiled leather")—Leather armor 

 

cuisses (OF, "thigh")—Armor pieces for the upper leg 

 

depardeu (also depardieu; OF)—In God’s name; by God 

 

descry/descrive (OF)—To discover; to describe or reveal 

 

destrier (L dextra "right hand" because the horse was led by the squire with his right hand)—A warhorse or charger 

 

disturn (OF)—Turn away 

 

drury (OF)—A love-token, a keepsake 

 

enow (ME)—Enough

 

escheat (OF)—To confiscate from; or more specifically the reversion of a fief to the lord, commonly when the tenant died without leaving a successor

 

fermysoun (also fermisoun; OF)—The close season, when it was illegal or uncustomary to hunt the hart (a male red deer) 

 

fette (OE, "fetch")—Lay hold of

 

forn (ME)—In front, forward of

 

foryield (OE)—Reward, repay

 

fourchée (OF)—A skewer for the special tidbits reserved for the lord from "unmaking" or butchering of the hart at the end of a hunt

 

frith (OE)—wooded or waste land, underbrush

 

frumenty (ME)—A dish made of hulled wheat boiled in milk, with spices and sweeteners added

 

fustian (OF, possibly from Fostat, a cloth-making section of Cairo)—Coarse cloth made of cotton and flax

 

gambeson (OF)—undecorated body garment of quilted material or leather, worn under armor to prevent chafing 

 

greaves (OF, "shin")—Armor for the leg below the knee 

 

haf/hatz (OE, ME)—have

 

harlot (OF)—A rogue, rascal, villain, low fellow, knave; also applied to the pointed boots worn in the fourteenth century 

 

hastilude (L "spear-play")—A tilt or tournament 

 

havercake (ME northern dialect)—Oatcake

 

houppelande (also houpland; OF, unknown origin)—A tunic with a long skirt, sometimes with train attached, worn by both sexes 

 

iwysse (OE, gewis "certain")—Certainly, assuredly, indeed 

 

lay (OF)—A short lyric or narrative poem 

 

leman (also lemman, lemmon; ME)—A lover or mistress 

 

lickerous (OF)—Delicious; lustful, wanton

 

liripipe (L)—A long tippet hanging from the peak of a hood or from the elbows 

 

lovelokkest (OE, ME)—Loveliest

 

luflych (OE, ME)—Lovely; gracious; a fervent expression of admiring or delighted feeling

 

lymer (OF, "leash")—A leash-hound; a dog bred for tracking the quarry by scent without disturbing it, similar to a modern bloodhound

 

menskeful (ME, memke "courtesy, honors")—Elegant, ornamented 

 

misericorde (OF, "compassion, pity, mercy")—A dagger 

 

mote (OF)—A note-call on a hunting horn

 

mote/moten/moste (OE)—Expressing permission, possibility, or obligation; might, may, or must 

 

ne (OE, ME)—A simple negative; no, not. Sometimes formed in contraction with a verb, as in "n’ill I" for "ne will I" (I will not). Our modern term "willy-nilly" comes from "Will ye or nill ye!" 

 

passager (OF)—A wild falcon trapped during migration and trained; sometimes used only for a season and then released 

 

pillion (from Celtic pill "cushion")—A kind of saddle, esp. a woman’s light saddle. Also, a pad or cushion attached to the back of an ordinary saddle, on which a second person (usually a woman) may ride 

 

plessis (OF)—Felled trees, young trees, brambles, and thorn bushes woven and grown together as an impenetrable barrier and defense; plessis were common all over Europe in the Middle Ages, some so ancient they dated back at least to the Germanic tribes of Roman times. 

 

poleyn (OF)—Plate armor for the knee

 

poulaine (OF, "souliers a la Poulaine," shoes in Polish fashion)—The long pointed toe of a shoe, as worn in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries

 

rache (OE)—A hunting dog that pursues the quarry in a pack by scent, like modern foxhounds 

 

ramp (OF)—A bold, vulgar, ill-behaved woman or girl 

 

rechase (OF)—The horn call to denote the hounds are running, or to release them to run 

 

rouncy (OF)—A riding horse

 

runisch (also runish, renish; ME, unknown origin)—Fierce, violent, rough

 

sabaton (from L "shoe")—Armor for the foot

 

shend (OE)—Overcome with fatigue; bewildered, stupefied

 

sparviter (OF)—A keeper of sparrowhawks

 

Tam Lin—A traditional name for the King of the Fairies

 

trow (OE)—Trust

 

unhende (also unhend; OE)—Ungentle, rude, rough

 

varvel (OF, "bolt, hinge")—A falconry term for the metal ring attached to a bird’s jess, on which the leash is tied; usually engraved with the owner’s name 

 

vauntguard (also avantguard; OF)—the foremost part of a troop or army, the vanguard 

 

vewterer (also fewterer; OF from the Gaulish word "run")—A keeper of greyhounds 

 

voire (OF)—In truth, indeed

 

waster bread (also wastel; OF "cake")—Bread made of the finest flour; a cake or loaf of this bread 

 

wit/wis/wist/wen/wot (OE, ME)—Know, understand 

 

witterly (OE, ME)—Clearly, plainly, evidently; for certain; without doubt

 

woodwose (OE)—a wild man of the woods 

 

wrathe/wrothe (also wrath; ME)—annoy, vex, anger

 

 

NOTES ON MIDDLE ENGLISH GRAMMAR

 

Negatives—The modern idea that multiple negatives in a sentence are bad grammar and that "two negatives equal a positive," has no historical basis. In Middle English, the more you wanted to negate something, the more negatives you stuffed into the sentence. "No I ain’t done nothing," would be perfectly proper Middle English. 

 

Word order—Negative statements, commands, and questions often invert the typical subject-verb-object word order. "Ne care I nought," for "I don’t care." "Swear thee now." "Why sayest thou so?" 

 

Conjugation of verbs—As a very general rule, the first and third person singular are similar to our modern forms. I hear. He hears. Middle English differentiated between "thou" and "you," for the second person pronoun. Between equals, or to inferiors, "thou" was used. This informal second person singular adds an -est ending for many verbs. Thou hearest. When addressing a superior, "ye" or its plural "you" was used. This polite address, plus the infinitive and all other plurals typically use a -en ending: You hearen. To hearen. They hearen.

 

There are only two tenses, past and present. The past tense follows the same general rules: I heard. Thou heardest. He heard. They hearden.      

 

There are of course many irregularities and complications, and grammar was never my strong point, so I’ll recommend A Book of Middle English by J. A. Burrow and Thorlac Turville-Petre for those who’d like to take a further peek into the grammatical rules and a more extensive dictionary of Middle English.

 

When the characters in For My Lady’s Heart are not speaking Middle English, I used simpler conventions. When they are speaking French, the universal court language of the time, I generally used the informal and polite forms of address, thou and ye. When the characters are speaking Italian between themselves, I used modern grammar.