GLOSSARY.ageyn, against.kouthe, known.arive, disembarkment.leede, cauldron.aventure, chance.leste, pleasure.ay, always.levere, rather.bar, bore.lipsede, lisped.bawdrick, baldric.luste, pleased.ben, to be.maistrye, mastery.bit, biddeth.maner, kind.byfel, it happened.mede, meadow.bysmotered, smutted.mete, meals, eating.carf, carved.motteleye, mixed colors.cheere, manner.nightertale, night-time.chevysaunce, loans, bargains.noon, not one, not at all.chivachye, military expedition.not-heed, shorn-head.clapsed, clasped.pace, pass.cleped, called.peyned, took pains.clerk, a scholar.pitous, full of pity.corage, heart.pocok, peacock.courtepy, cloak.poraille, poor folks.cowde, knew.pricasour, hard rider.crulle, curled.priketh, incites, spurs.cure, care.prys, reputation, worth.delyver, active.purfiled, embroidered.devyse, speak of.purtreye, paint.digne, worthy.raughte, reached.don, do.reccheles, reckless.eek, also.reysed, ridden.embrowded, embroidered.rote, a musical instrument.encres, increase.sawtreye, psaltery.everychon, every one, all.schene, bright.farsed, stuffed.scoleye, attend school.ferne, distant, foreign.seeke, sick.ferre, farther.semely, becomingly.ferthing, small portion.sikerly, surely.fetysly, neatly, well.somdel, somewhat.fithel, fiddle.sondry, different kinds.Flaundrische, Flemish.sothly, truly.flotynge, fluting, playing.souple, pliant.flour-de-lys, fleur-de-lis.sovereyn, excellent.forster, forester.sowning, boasting.for-pyned, much wasted.steepe, bright.frere, friar.streit, strict.gawded, having gawds.swich, such.gepoun, short cassock.swynke, toil.goost, ghost.thilke, this.grys, fur.tretys, slender.gynglen, jingling.venerye, hunting.habergeoun, hawberk.viage, journey.halwes, shrines (holies).wastel breed, cake bread.heethe, heath, meadow.wenden, go.hem, them.werre, war.here, their.wight, person.heute, borrow.wiste, knew.holpen, helped.wood, mad, foolish.holte, wood.wympel, wimple.i-falle, fallen.yaf, gave.ilke, same.yeddynges, gleemen's songs.i-ronne, ran.yemanly, yeoman-like.juste, joust.yerde, stick.
1.in the Ram.In the constellation Aries. "There is a difference, in astronomy, between thesignAries and theconstellationAries. In April the sun is theoretically in the sign Taurus, but visibly in the constellation Aries."—Morris.
2.i-ronne.Run. The prefixi-ory-is equivalent to the A.-S. or Germange, and usually denotes the past participle.
3.seeken.The infinitive in early English ended inn, usually inen.
4.martir.Thomas à Becket, who was slain at Canterbury in 1170. He was canonized by Pope Alexander III. as St. Thomas of Canterbury.
5.seeke.Sick, ill. At the present time the English restrict the use of the word "sick" to nausea, and regard it in its original and broader signification as an "Americanism."
6.Tabard.A tabard is "a jaquet or slevelesse coat worne in times past by noblemen in the warres, but now only by heraults. It is the signe of an inne in Southwarke by London, within the which was the lodging of the Abbot of Hyde by Winchester. This is the hostelrie where Chaucer and the other pilgrims mett together and accorded about the manner of their journey to Canterbury."—Speght.
7.stables.Standing-places (Lat.sto, to stand); meaning here the public rooms of the inn.
8.Or.Before, ere (A.-S.aer, ere). Compare Psalm xc. 2.
9.condicioun.A word of four syllables, accented on the last.
10.chyvalrye.The profession of a knight.
11.hethënesse.Heathen countries. Fromheath, the open country. "The wordheathenacquired its meaning from the fact that, at the introduction of Christianity into Germany, the wild dwellers on the heaths longest resisted the truth."—Trench.
12.Alisaundre.Alexandria was taken in 1365 by Pierre de Lusignan, king of Cyprus, but was very soon abandoned.
13.he hadde the bord bygonne."He had been placed at the head of the table, the usual compliment to extraordinary merit."—Tyrwhitt.
14.Pruce.Prussia. "When our military men wanted employment it was usual for them to go and serve inPruce, or Prussia, with the Knights of the Teutonic order, who were in a state of constant warfare with their heathen neighbours in Lettow (Lithuania) and Ruse (Russia)."—Tyrwhitt.
15.Gernade.Grenada, probably at the siege of Algezir, in that country, in 1344. Belmarie was probably a Moorish town in Africa, as also was Tramassene, mentioned below. Lieys was in Armenia. Both it and Satalie (Attalia) were conquered by Pierre de Lusignan in 1367.
16.Greetë see.That part of the Mediterranean which washes the coast of Palestine.
17.lord of Palatye.A Christian knight who kept possession of his lands by paying tribute to the Turks.
18.no maner wight.No sort of person. In early English the preposition was often omitted aftermanner. Observe the double negatives in these two lines.
19.bacheler."A soldier not old or rich enough to lead his relations into battle with a banner. The original sense of the word islittle,small,young, from Welshbach."—Webster.
20.floytynge.Fluting. So, in Chaucer's "House of Fame," he says:
"And many a floyte and litlyng horne,And pipes made of grene corne."
"And many a floyte and litlyng horne,And pipes made of grene corne."
21.he.That is, the knight. The wordyeman, oryeoman, is an abbreviation ofyeongeman. As used by Chaucer, it means a servant of a rank above that of groom, but below that of squire. The present use of the word to signify a small landholder is of more modern origin.
22.pocok arwës.Arrows tipped with peacock feathers.
23.bracer.A kind of close sleeve laced upon the arm. "A bracer serveth for two causes, one to save his arme from the strype of the stringe, and his doublet from wearing; and the other is, that the stringe glidinge sharplye and quicklye off the bracer, maye make the sharper shoote."—Roger Ascham's Toxophilus, page 129.
24.Cristofre.An image of St. Christopher, which was thought to protect its wearer from hidden danger.
25.seynt Loy.St. Eloy, or Eligius.
26.of gret disport.Fond of gayety.
27.men.This word as here used is an indefinite pronoun equivalent toone, orany one.
28."Love conquers all things."
29.chapeleyne.Probablyassistant.
30.a fair for the maistryë.A fair one for the chief place.
31."He would not give a pulled hen for that text"; that is, "he cared not a straw for it." Pulled = pylled = pilled = plucked.
32.waterles.Out of water.
33.what.Why, wherefore.
34.wood.Mad. Scotchwud, wild.
"An' just as wud as wud can be."—Burns.
"An' just as wud as wud can be."—Burns.
35.no cost wolde he spare.For this pleasure he spared no expense.
36."That shone like the fire under a cauldron."
37.lymytour.One who was licensed to beg within a limited territory.
38.ordres foure.The Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Carmelites, and the Augustine Friars.
39.post.Pillar, support. Compare with the modern expression, "A pillar of the church."
40.frankeleyns.Country gentlemen; wealthy landholders.
41.licentiat.He had license from the pope to grant absolution in all cases. A curate's powers did not extend so far.
42."Where he knew he would have."
43.See note27, above.
44.sellers of vitaille.Givers of food, or a livelihood. The original meaning of the wordsellwas togive. From A.-S.syllan, to give.
45."In the beginning." The first words of St. John's Gospel in the Vulgate.
46.purchas.Income from begging.
47.lovë-dayës.Days appointed for the amicable settlement of differences, without recourse to law.
48."He wished the sea were guarded."Middelburgh, a port in the Netherlands.Orëwelle, a port in Essex.
49.scheeldës.French crowns marked with a shield. Shillings.
50.Oxenford.Not the "ford of the ox," but the "ford of the river."Ox, from Celticesk,ouse, water.
51.The wordrightused, as here, in the sense ofveryis now considered a vulgarism. "A Southerner would say, 'It rains right hard.'"—Bartlett.
52.sawtryë.Psaltery, a Greek instrument of music.
53.sownynge.Sounding; that is, in consonance with.Sentence= sense. So, also, construeformeandreverence, above, as meaningpropriety and modesty.
"'How few there are who can read Chaucer so as to understand him perfectly,' says Dryden, apologizing for 'translating' him. In our day, with the wider spread of historical study, with the numerous helps to Old English that the care of scholars has produced for us, with the purification that Chaucer's text has undergone, this saying of Dryden's ought not to be true. It ought to be not only possible, but easy, for an educated reader to learn the few essentials of Chaucerian grammar, and for an ear at all trained to poetry to tune itself to the unfamiliar harmonies. For those who make the attempt the reward is certain. They will gain the knowledge, not only of the great poet and creative genius, but of the master who uses our language with a power, a freedom, a variety, a rhythmic beauty, that, in five centuries, not ten of his successors have been found able to rival."—T. H. Ward.
The peculiarities of diction and grammar which distinguish Chaucer's poetry seem to make its reading and comprehension difficult and often discourage the student at the outset. A very little study, however, will show that the difficulties in the way are not nearly so great as they at first appear, and, after a little patient practice in reading, they will disappear entirely. By observing the following rules you will soon acquire the ability to read with a fluency which will be highly pleasing to you:
1. Finaleshould be pronounced as a separate syllable whenever the metre demands it.
2. In all words of French origin, such as viságe, coráge, maniér, the final syllable is accented.
The greatest difficulty in reading Chaucer arises from the antiquated manner in which the words are spelled; but if the reader will change an occasionalytoi, and drop a finaleor a finaln, here and there, the words which seemed at first so strange will appear more familiar to the eye and the understanding.
Geoffrey Chaucer, "the morning-star of English poetry," was born in London in 1328,—according to some authorities, in 1340. He was the son of a vintner, and at an early age became acquainted with many persons of distinction. He was a page in the household of Prince Lionel, and afterwards valet and squire to Edward III. In 1372 he was sent abroad as a royal envoy, and on his return hewas made Controller of the Customs In London. In the meantime he had married Philippa Rouet, one of the queen's maids of honor, a sister to the wife of John of Gaunt. Being thus closely related to one of the most powerful members of the royal family, he was often employed in important and honorable commissions connected with the government. In 1386 he was member of Parliament for Kent, and in 1389 was appointed Clerk of the King's Works, at Windsor. He died in 1400, and was buried in Westminster Abbey,—"the first of the long line of poets whose ashes make that edifice illustrious." His poetical history has been divided by Mr. Furnivall into four periods: (1) up to 1371, during which he wrote the "A B C" the "Compleynte to Pité," the "Boke of the Duchesse," and the "Compleynte of Mars"; (2) from 1372 to 1381, which saw the production of "Troylus and Criseyde," "Anelida," and the "Former Age"; (3) from 1381 to 1389, during which his best works appeared, the "Parlament of Foules," the "House of Fame," the "Legende of Goode Women," and some of the "Canterbury Tales"; (4) from 1389 to the close of his life, in which period the remainder of the "Canterbury Tales" and some short poems were written.
M. Taine says, "Chaucer is like a jeweller with his hands full; pearls and glass beads, sparkling diamonds and common agates, black jet and ruby roses, all that history and imagination had been able to gather and fashion during three centuries in the East, in France, in Wales, in Provence, in Italy, all that had rolled his way, clashed together, broken or polished by the stream of centuries, and by the grand jumble of human memory, he holds in his hand, arranges it, composes therefrom a long sparkling ornament, with twenty pendants, a thousand facets, which by its splendor, variety, contrasts, may attract and satisfy the eyes of those most greedy for amusement and novelty."
Other Poems to be Read:The Knight's Tale; The Clerk's Tale; The Man of Law's Tale; The Legende of Goode Women; The Parlament of Foules; The House of Fame; Chaucer's A B C.
References:Lowell'sMy Study Windows; Marsh'sOrigin and History of the English Language; Charles Cowden Clarke'sThe Riches of Chaucer; Morley'sEnglish Writers, vol. v; Carpenter'sEnglish of the XIV Century; Taine'sEnglish Literature; Lounsbury'sStudies in Chaucer; Hazlitt'sEnglish Poets.