A Middle English dictionary, containing words used by English writers from the twelfth to the fifteenth century

52.6 MB·English

by  Stratmann, Francis Henry, d. 1884

A
Middle-Endish
Dictionary
CONTAINING WORDS USED BY
ENGLISH WRITERS FROM THE TWELFTH
TO THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
BY
FRANCIS HENRY STRATMANN
A
New
Edition
RE-ARRANGED, REVISED, AND ENLARGED BY
HENRY BRADLEY
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
THE SHORTER OXFORD
ENGLISH DICTIONARY
ON HISTORICAL PRINCIPLES
Prepared by
WILLIAM LITTLE, H. W. FOWLER
COULSON
JESSIE
Revised and edited by
C. T. ONIONS
Third edition.
(revised)
Corrected impression, with revised and
enlarged Addenda, printed on thinner
paper and bound in one volume. Also
available in two volumes.
This abridgement of the OxfordEnglish Die- ,
tionary presents on a reduced scale all the
features of the principal work. It is designed
to embrace no*only the colloquialandliterary-
English ofthepresentday, butalso a consider-
able proportion of obsolete, archaic, and dia-
lectal uses. Although the 'Shorter' is one-sixth
ofthe length ofthe O.E.D., it is not short by
the standards of oth—er fuU and comprehensive
English dictionaries itcontains more illustra-
tive quotations than any of them, and the
numberofwordstreated amountstotwo-thirds
ofthe original. Itcovers a vocabularyofabout
163,000 words besides combinations and idio-
matic phrases.
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A
MIDDLE-ENGLISH DICTIONARY
BRADLEY
H.
Oxford University Press
OXFORD LONDON NEW YORK
GLASGOW TORONTO MELBOURNE Wl:LLINGTON
CAPETOWN IBAUAN NAIROBI DARESSALAAM LUSAKA ADDISABABA
DELHI BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS KARACHI LAHORE DACCA
KUALALUMPUR SINGAPORE HONGKONG TOKYO
ISBN O 19 863106 5
\A
MIDDLE-ENGLISH
DICTIONARY/
CONTAINING
WORDS USED BY ENGLISH WRITERS
FROM THE TWELFTH TO THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
BY
FRANCIS HENRY STRATMANN
A NEIV EDITION, RE-ARRANGED, REVISED, AND ENLARGED
BY
HENRY BRADLEY
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
FIRSTEDITION ISgI
Reprinted lithographicallyinGreat Britain by
LOWE AND BRYDONE (PRINTERS) LTD, THETFORD, NORFOLK
fromsheets ofthefirst edition
i940> 1951. 1954) 1958, 1963, i967> I97'> '974
7.0
ff 3.
S
PREFACE.
The Dictionary of Middle-English' compiled by Dr. F. H. Stratmann, of
Krefeld, is the only comprehensive dictionary of that stage of the English
language hitherto published in a completed state; the only other existing
work of the same kind being that of Matzner, of which the first instalment
appeared in 1878, and which has as yet been carried only to the letter J. The
third and latest edition of Dr. Stratmann's dictionary was published in 1878,
and an extensive supplement was issued in 1881. At the time of the author's
death, which took place in 1884, he had apparently almost completed the
preparation of a new edition. The copyright of the work was subsequently
purchased bythe Delegates ofthe Clarencjon Press, and the author's materials
for the new edition (consisting of an annotated copy ofthe printed book) were
placed in my hands to be prepared for the press. The unanimous opinion of
the scholars in this country who were consulted was that simply to reprint the
work in the form contemplated by the author would be wholly unadvisable,
and that an extensive revision was needed in order to adapt it to the needs
of English students. Although the book was marked by great learning and
ability, as well as by extraordinary industry, it had certain serious practical
defects, chiefly, it may be remarked, due to those limitations of scope without
which it would probablyhave been impossible for the author to bring his work
to completion in any reasonable number oF years. The principal respects in
which the prese—nt edition aims at being an improvement on the original work
are as follows
:
1. If the definition of a dictionary be that it is a book which explains
the meaning of words, Dr. Stratmann's work can scarcely be regarded as
a dictionary at all. With the meaning of Middle-English words, the author
concerned himself but little ; his principal care was to identify them etymo-
logically; that is to say, to connect them with their descendants in Modern-
' In the published editionstheworkisentitled 'A Dictionary' ofthe Old English Language;'
but in revising it fora new edition the author substituted • Middle-English' for 'Old English' in
the title-page. He also indicated that in the body of the diciionary the abbreviation -A.-S.'
(,Anglo-Saxon} should be changed into 'O.E.'
PREFACE.
\1
English, their antecedents in Old-English, and their cognates in other
languages. Such explanations of meanings as were given were merely sub-
sidiary to this object. Not infrequently, indeed, words (and those not merely
compounds or obvious derivatives) were left without interpretation altogether
;
in other cases the sense was indicated only by Latin words, which were often
themselves ambiguous. Where a Middle-English word was glossed by a
Modern-English one, the latter was commonly the etyrpological equivalent,
even though the word might have undergone a complete change of meaning.
In a very large number of instances the only vernacular gloss is an obsolete
or dialectal word taken from Halliwell's ' DictionaryofArchaic and Provincial
Words,' or some similar source, and quite unintelligible to ordinary En—glish
readers. The following examples will illustrate the author's method : che-
owen . . . chew [chow, chig), mandere, objurgate; eubbel, kibble,fustts; galstron
. . . galsier (gauster), creparc; galwen, gallow {gaily), terrere?; jeolpen, yelp
{yilp), gloriari, jactari; kitelen . . . kittle, titillare; plaigen . . . plaiv, ludcre)
schftte . . . shout, lembtis [the word means a flat-bottomed boat] ; scorklin,
scorkle, ustulare; snobben, snob, singultire; sliimen, sloum, dormitare. In the
present edition, I have endeavoured to provide every word with an intelligible
explanation in English. When a word has greatly changed in meaning, I
have cited the modern form for the sake of completing the etymological
history of the word, but in such a manner as not to mislead the reader as to
the earlier sense. As the distinctive feature of the book is that the examples
are arranged according to the grammatical forms, and not according to the
senses, it is obvious that the shades of meaning could not be explained with
the same precision and completeness as in larger works like that of Matzner,
or the New English Dictionary, but it is hoped that the explanations given
will be found sufficiently full and accurate for ordinary practical needs. The
indication of the parts of speech, which was wholl}^ omitted in the original
work, has been supplied.
2. Another inconvenient feature of the original dictionary was its per-
plexing etymological arrangement. The compound words, instead of being
inserted in alphabetical order, were placed under their initial element, even
though this happened to be an inseparable prefix. Hence, in order to fi—nd
one ofthese words, it was necessary to know, or to conjecture its etymology
or rather. Dr. Stratmann's opinion as to its etymology. Suppose, for example,
the word amaien is to be sought for in the Dictionary by a studentwho has no
notion of its derivation. The first step of course is to look for it in its a pha-
We
betical place. It is not there, nor is there a cross-reference. next turn
to the words under the prefix a-, but amaien is not among them. The cross-
reference a-, see ab-, ad-, an-, and-, at-, en-, es-, je-, and of-, gives us the choice
of ten other places, in any ofwhich the word we are seeking may possibly be
found. As a matter offact, it is placed under es-, so that the reader who takes