Geoffrey Chaucer

“ The old spelling rime is confirmed by the A. S. rīm, Icel. rím, Dan. rim, Swed. rim, Germ. reim, Dutch rijm, Old Fr. rime, &c. Confusion with rime, hoarfrost, is impossible, as the context always decides which is meant; but it is worth notice that it is the latter word which has the better title to an h, as the A. S. word for hoarfrost is hrīm. ”

“ They can all be reduced to two classes; those which, like the trebuchet and mangonel, are enlarged staff-slings, and those which, like the arblast and springold, are great cross-bows. Conversely, we might describe a staff-sling as a hand-trebuchet.
2020. child Thopas. Child is an appellation given to both knights and squires, in the early romances, at an age when they had long passed the period which we now call childhood. A good example is to be found in the Erle of Tolous, ed. Ritson, iii. ”

“ It is no doubt a corruption of lancezagay, from the Spanish azagaya, a word of Moorish origin. Cotgrave gives—'Zagaye, a fashion of slender, long, and long-headed pike, used by the Moorish horsemen.' It seems originally to have been rather a short weapon, a kind of half-pike or dart. The Spanish word is well discussed in Dozy, Glossaire des mots Espagnols et Portugais dérivés de l'Arabe, 2nd ed. p. 225. The Spanish azagaya is for az-zagaya, where az is for the definite article al, and zagaya is a Berber or Algerian word, not given in the Arabic dictionaries. ”

“ MS. has 'Of ladys loue and drewery,' which Tyrwhitt adopts; but it turns out that Wright's reading is copied from Tyrwhitt; the MS. really has—'And of ladys loue drewery,' like the rest.
2088. The romance or lay of Horn appears in two forms in English. In King Horn, ed. Lumby, Early Eng. Text Soc., 1866, printed also in Mätzner's Altenglische Sprachproben, i. 207, the form of the poem is in short rimed couplets. But Chaucer no doubt refers to the other form with the title Horn Childe and Maiden Rimnild, in a metre similar to Sir Thopas, printed in Ritson's Metrical Romances, iii. 282. ”

“ To give a few illustrations is all that can be attempted here; I refer the reader to Prof. Kölbing's elaborate article in the Englische Studien, xi. 495, for further information; also to the dissertation by C. J. Bennewitz mentioned in vol. iii. p. 424. It is remarkable that we find in Weber a ballad called 'The Hunting of the Hare,' which is a pure burlesque, like Chaucer's, but a little broader in tone and more obviously comic.
1902. Listeth, lordes, hearken, sirs. This is the usual style of beginning. For example, Sir Bevis begins—
'Lordynges, lystenyth, grete and smale' ”

“ Examples of it occur in the Romances of Sir Percevall, Sir Isumbras, Sir Eglamour, and Sir Degrevant (in the Thornton Romances, ed. Halliwell) , and in several romances in the Percy Folio MS. (ed. Hales and Furnivall) , such as Libius Disconius, Sir Triamour, Sir Eglamour, Guy and Colbrande, The Grene Knight, &c.; see also Amis and Amiloun, and Sir Amadas in Weber's Metrical Romances; and Lybeaus Disconus, The King of Tars, Le Bone Florence, Emare, The Erle of Tolous, and Horn Childe in Ritson's collection. To point out Chaucer's sly imitations of phrases, &c. would be a long task ”

“ Dozy quotes from a writer who explains it as a Moorish half-pike, and also gives the following passage from Laugier de Tassy, Hist. du royaume d'Alger, p. 58—'Leurs armes sont l'azagaye, qui est une espéce de lance courte, qu'ils portent toujours à la main.' The Caffre word assagai, in the sense of javelin, was simply borrowed from the Portuguese azagaia.
1949. a sory care, a grievous misfortune. Chaucer does not say what this was, but a passage in Amis and Amiloun (ed. Weber, ii. 410) makes it probable that Sir Thopas nearly killed his horse, which would have been grievous indeed; see l. ”

“ Kölbing points out a parallel line in Sir Guy of Warwick, 45-6:—
'In all Englond ne was ther none
That durste in wrath ayenst hym goon';
⁠Caius MS., ed. Zupitza, p. 5.
1998. Olifaunt, i. e. Elephant; a proper name, as Tyrwhitt observes, for a giant. Maundeville has the form olyfauntes for elephants. By some confusion the Mœso-Goth. ulbandus and A. S. olfend are made to signify a camel. Spenser has put Chaucer's Olifaunt into his Faerie Queene, bk. iii. c. 7. st. 48, and makes him the brother of the giantess Argantè, and son of Typhoeus and Earth. ”

“ NOTES TO THE TALE OF SIR THOPAS.
Prologue to Sir Thopas.
1881. miracle, pronounced míracl'. Tyrwhitt omits al, and turns the word into mirácle, unnecessarily.
1883. hoste is so often an evident dissyllable (see l. 1897) , that there is no need to insert to after it, as in Tyrwhitt. In fact, bigan is seldom followed by to.
1885. what man artow, what sort of a man art thou?
1886. woldest finde, wouldst like to find. We learn from this passage, says Tyrwhitt, that Chaucer 'was used to look much upon the ground; that he was of a corpulent habit ”

“ The cote-armour was not for defence, but a mere surcoat on which the knight's armorial bearings were usually depicted, in order to identify him in the combat or 'debate.' Hence the modern coat-of-arms.
2059. reed, red. In the Romances, gold is always called red, and silver white. Hence it was not unusual to liken gold to blood, and this explains why Shakespeare speaks of armour being gilt with blood (King John, ii. 1. 316) , and makes Lady Macbeth talk of gilding the groom's faces with blood (Macbeth, ii. 2. 56) . ”

“ Most of this ivory was derived, however, from the tusk of the walrus or the narwhal. Sir Thopas's saddle was ornamented with ivory.
2071. cipress, cypress-wood. In the Assembly of Foules, l. 179, we have—
'The sailing firr, the cipres, deth to pleyne'—
i. e. the cypress suitable for lamenting a death. Vergil calls the cypress 'atra,' Æn. iii. 64, and 'feralis,' vi. 216; and as it is so frequently a symbol of mourning, it may be said to bode war.
2078. In Sir Degrevant (ed. Halliwell, p. 191) we have just this expression—
'Here endyth the furst fit. ”

“ A reason for the exception is easily found; for Chaucer has here adopted the swing of the ballad metre, and hence ventures to deprive chiualryë of its final e, and to call it chivalry' so that it may rime with Gy, after the manner of the ballad-writers ”

“ Tyrwhitt, in his edition of Chaucer, attempted two reforms in spelling, viz. rime for rhyme, and coud for could. Both are most rational, but probably unattainable.
Thopas. In the Supplement to Ducange we find—'Thopasius, pro Topasius, Acta S. Wencesl. tom. 7. Sept. p. 806, col. 1.' The Lat. topazius is our topaz. The whole poem is a burlesque (see vol. iii. p. 423) , and Sir Topaz is an excellent title for such a gem of a knight. The name Topyas occurs in Richard Coer de Lion, ed. ”

“ Miri to singẽ dai and niȝt,' &c.
1964. as he were wood, as if he were mad, 'like mad.' So in Amis and Amiloun (ed. Weber) , ii. 419:—
'He priked his stede night and day
As a gentil knight, stout and gay.'
Cf. note to l. 1949.
1974. seinte, being feminine, and in the vocative case, is certainly a dissyllable here—'O seintè Márie, ben'cite.' Cf. note to B. 1170 above.
1977. Me dremed, I dreamt. Both dremen (to dream) and meten (also to dream) are sometimes used with a dative case and reflexively in Old English. In the Nonne Prestes Tale we have me mette (l. 74) and this man mette (l. 182) ”

“ And ther aboven, an hawberk';
⁠Richard Coer de Lion, ed. Weber, ii. 222.
2054. Jewes werk, Jew's work. Tyrwhitt imagined that Jew here means a magician, but there is not the least foundation for the idea. Mr. Jephson is equally at fault in connecting Jew with jewel, since the latter word is etymologically connected with joy. The phrase still remains unexplained. I suspect it means no more than wrought with rich or expensive work, such as Jews could best find the money for. It is notorious that they were the chief capitalists, and they must often have had to find money for paying armourers. ”

“ These half-pence were forbidden in the 13th year of Henry IV, and again by parliament in the 3rd of Henry V, by the name of half-pence of Genoa.... Notwithstanding, in my youth, I have seen them passe currant,' &c. Chaucer uses the word again in the Clerkes Tale (E. 999) , and Spenser adopted it from Chaucer; F. Q. iii. 7. 58. Mr. ”

“ And grete solace, &c."' (l. 19, ed. Ritson) .
⁠Todd's Illust. of Chaucer, p. 378.
1905. gent, gentle, gallant. Often applied to ladies, in the sense of pretty. The first stanzas in Sir Isumbras and Sir Eglamour are much in the same strain as this stanza.
1910. Popering. 'Poppering, or Poppeling, was the name of a parish in the Marches of Calais. Our famous antiquary Leland was once rector of it. See Tanner, Bib. Brit. in v. Leland.'—Tyrwhitt. Here Calais means the district, not the town. ”