Ten Funky Medieval Words
ACK! I nearly forgot today was my day to post. My bad. So this is short and furious:
Ten Funky Medieval Words
regardant: a heraldic animal with a raised head turned to the left side of a shield
gong farmer: the one who cleaned the privy shaft
fermail: a fastener for a tunic, gown or cape at the garment's throat
racket: a reedy-sounding wind instrument
grulsh: a thick, squat, fat person or animal (Scotish)
knave: manservant
Foddercorn: the grain a villein had to provide to feed the lord's horses
knidget: a mischievous, saucy boy or girl (Scotish)
disattire: undress
Sources:
English Through the Ages by William Brohaugh
Stephen Biesty's Cross-Sections Castle
The Scots Dialect Dictionary
Medieval Wordbook by Madeleine Pelner Cosman
Ten Funky Medieval Words
regardant: a heraldic animal with a raised head turned to the left side of a shield
gong farmer: the one who cleaned the privy shaft
fermail: a fastener for a tunic, gown or cape at the garment's throat
racket: a reedy-sounding wind instrument
grulsh: a thick, squat, fat person or animal (Scotish)
knave: manservant
Foddercorn: the grain a villein had to provide to feed the lord's horses
knidget: a mischievous, saucy boy or girl (Scotish)
disattire: undress
Sources:
English Through the Ages by William Brohaugh
Stephen Biesty's Cross-Sections Castle
The Scots Dialect Dictionary
Medieval Wordbook by Madeleine Pelner Cosman
posted by Jessica Trapp | 3:32 PM
7 Comments:
Ooooo I like knidget! The first time I read an Elizabeth Mansfield book, which was my first experience with Regency Romance, I discoved widgeon and goose and "making a cake of oneself." I fell in love with the language. How fun. And now I know what to call the pin I use on my cloak, a fermail. At least, that is if I can expand the definition to include a cloak. :-)
~~ Judy T
My favorite is "foddercorn." The leavings of milling grains...interestingly, I think I read somewhere that foddercorn was often used to bake a sort of bread fed to medieval horses.
Kathrynn
Jobs I don't want - gong farmer!
This is too freaken funny. Love the words, Jessica. I'm so with Anne about not wanting to be a gong farmer! LOL!
Oh, dear. I thought I heard someone refer to me as "girlish" but now, thanks to my new-found vocabularly words, I fear that he was really calling me "grulsh."
One of my favourite medieaval resources - which writing Regencies I never have occasion to use! is a little book called An Exaltation of Larks. The title alone gives me goosebumps, I love it so much. It is a compilation of what we now think of as collective nouns, such as a pride of lions, a litter of pups, a shrewdness of apes, a skulk of foxes, or an exaltation of larks. Originally these terms were used in connection with venery or the Chase. There's something about it, the use of language, the wit and sheer effervescence of it all that gets me in every time I take it off the shelf. It's the sort of book that you NEVER permit to leave the house. A real DIK.
As for rotten jobs no sane 21st century person would want; has the TV program The Worst Jobs in History been aired in North America yet? I'm sort of assuming it hasn't or you'd all be referring to it. It's a UK effort and the presenter, Tony Robinson, checks out the worst jobs going at different periods. Personally I felt sorry for the chap who had to wipe Henry VIII's bottom. DH had to be revived with burnt feathers over the demonstration of how to make violin strings and the kids want to buy the whole series on DVD! I'm not sure if they want to try fulling, which involves treading woollen fabric in vats of pee to make it nice and soft (ick!), or making violin strings which mean I'll have to keep a close count on my sheep:( And I promise, I'm not making any of this up!
Elizabeth Rolls
Thank you for listing your resources!!! I've just ordered them all so I'll have some things that I want under the Christmas tree ;) And I Love the theme of this Blog!!
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