Glossary of Old English Terms ***************************** On reading inventories which often accompany Wills or deeds, it can be very difficult to decipher many of the words, especially as some would be in local dialect and with odd spellings. Here are just some of the words you may (or may not) come across: Acare - acre Ackare, acker, accor, anakr - acre Addle - to earn Ale - all Andirons, end irons - horizontal bars on 3 short feet with upright pillar in front. They were placed on each side of the hearth to support burning wood Apern, aporn, apranne - apron Apparayle - clothing Apparel, aprel, reparele - clothing art - are Aule - hall Ax - to ask Backsyde - the buildings and yard behind the house Bacyn, basene - basin Auld - old Bage - bag Balandes, balances - scales Balde, bareyne - barren Ballies - bellows balles - bellows ballaysses - bellows balwys - bellows Bearing cloth - christening robe or shawl Bease, bese - beasts Beddys, beede - bed Bed hilling or berydynd - bedding Beef-witted - having an inactive brain, thought to be from eating too much beef bellis - bellows bequeath - to give or leave by will; to hand down beseech - request, ask besought - asked, made request (past tense of beseech) betwixt - between. Besse - bees Bibesy - a too earnest desire after drink Bink, benk, binche, benche - bench Boetts - boots Boke - book Boket, bowkitt - bucket Bolokke - bullock Bookwright - a writer of books; an author; a term of slight contempt Bord close, bord hillings - table cloths Boute - without Brabble - to quarrel about trifles; esp. to quarrel noisily, brawl, squabble Branches - chandeliers Brannigan - a drinking bout; a spree or binge Bruse - brush Bucking cooler, bucking tub - washing tub Cafes - calves Canst - can Caples - horses Caplyes, capuls, capolles - horses Caye - cows Caytie, cetle, keytell - kettle (an open cooking pot) Charys, chers - chairs Chaunlor - candlestick Chiste, cheess, Kyste, chiest - chest Chechin - kitchen Clock - cloak Close - clothes Corrade - to scrape together; to gather together from various sources Cometh - comes, or coming Curglaff - the shock felt in bathing when one first plunges into the cold water Dearth, durth - scarcity or scant supply of anything; want or lack Dost - do, does Deigest, dext - desk Deliciate - to take one’s pleasure, enjoy oneself, revel, luxuriate Deserts - used in English from the 13th century to mean "that which is deserved." when you get your just deserts, you get your due Draught or draft - can mean the act of pulling or drawing loads; a pull or haul; a team of animals for pulling a load; the act of inhaling; that which is inhaled; the drawing of a liquid from its receptacle, as of ale from a cask Dint - from the oldest of Old English where it originally referred to a blow struck with a sword or other weapon. It came to stand for subduing by force Durst - dare; to have the necessary boldness or courage for something Eke - an old verb meaning to add, supplement, or grow. Ewre, ewer, owre, ure, yer - pitcher for carrying water Fere - friend, companion Filids - fields Foole, fawlie, foulle, foyle - foal Freck - to move swiftly or nimbly Fullsome - rich, plentiful Gakett - jacket Galland - gallon Geys, goys, gousse - geese, goose Gonne - gun Groak - to silently watch someone while they are eating, hoping to be invited to join Hallfer, heckfer - heifer Hath - equivalent of modern has Henceforth - from now on Hey, hye - hay Hinde - farm worker Hither - here Hobby - pony or small horse Hode - old Hoddypeak - a fool, simpleton, noodle, blockhead Husband - a husbandman, one who works the land Husbandry gear - farm equipment Husslements - minor household goods of little value Huzzah, huzza - first recorded in 1573. According to a number of writers in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was originally a sailor's cheer or salute. (Old French, huzzer, “to shout aloud;” German, hussah!) Illecebrous - alluring, enticing, attractive Jack - device for turning the spit when roasting meat Jargogle - to confuse, jumble up Jirble - to pour out (a liquid) with an unsteady hand Jollux - colloquial phrase used in the late 18th century to describe a fat person Kench - to laugh loudly Koo, Kyne - cow(s) Lathe, laithe - barn Lunting - walking while smoking a pipe Malagrugrous - dismal Maunger - manger/feeding trough Mazer - deep plate or bow Meden - maid servant Mere - an expanse of water; lake; pool Mester - master of the house Midst - in the middle of, or among. e.g., "in the midst of the storm" Mullock - rubbish Nappery - household linen especially tableware Nary - none; absolutely nothing; not even close to anything Naught - nothing, the modern word “not” is actually an abbreviated form of this old-English word, which was itself a shortened form of “no whit” or “not a whit” Nellys - nails Onuppan - above Overmany - a lot Pattens - overshoes or clogs which raised the wearer an inch or two above the mud pece - silverware, fork etc. Peges - pigs Pelowes - pillows Perissology - use of more words than are necessary; redundancy or superfluity of expression Pond - pound Prithee - contracted form of "I pray thee", i.e., I ask of you, I beseech thee, etc. Proby - apprentice Pudh - horrible Pullen - poultry Pussyvan - A flurry, temper Quagswagging - the action of shaking to and fro Rement, rayment - clothing Rough-shod - a rough-shod horse had its shoes attached with protruding nail heads in order to get a better grip on slippery roads Saue - saw Scriptitation - a 17th-century word meaning “continual writing” Seeing glass - mirror Selvar - silver Sevand - servant Shall or shalt - will Sherne - churn Sheytes - sheets Sleight - a Middle English word meaning cunning or trickery Snoutfair - a person with a handsome countenance Soe - a large tub Soope - soap Sot sellares - salt cellars Spermologer - a picker-up of trivia, of current news, a gossip monger, what we would today call a columnist Stewe - vessel for cooking Stithie, stethe, stiddy - anvil Syllan - sell Tack - tenancy of land, a lease Tallt - to stand above others in a snobby way Tarry - to linger, deliberate, wait, stay, or pause Taverne - a cellar Thee - you Thou - you Touled - towel Tumbler - drinking cup with rounded bottom so that it could not be put down until empty Tup - ram Twilt - quilt Twitter-light - used in the early 17th century, the hours as the sun goes down, twilight Unguents - ointments Urchin - hedgehog Waght - weight Wenche - a girl, maidservant or baby girl Wend - you can wend your way through a crowd or down a hill, just another word for "go" in Old English the past tense of "wend" was "went" Wessing - washing Widdendream - a state of mental disturbance or confusion Woddinge - wooden Woll - wool Writings - legal documents Wyesel - vessel Yate - gate Yemeles - Old English and Middle English meaning careless, heedless, negligent Yoyne - young Zafty - a person very easily imposed upon Sources: www.hearthtax.org.uk/ www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ukwales2/hicks3.html www.british-history.ac.uk/ familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/England_Taxation www.encyclopedia.com/ www.longparish.org.uk www.projectbook.co.uk/