And of þese berdede buckys also,
Wyþ hem self þey moche mysdo,
Þat leve Crystyn mennys acyse,
And haunte alle þe newe gyse;
Þer whylys þey hade þat gyse on hande
Was nevere grace yn þys lande.
These are Robert's own rimes; for Waddington, writing earlier, had not thought it needful to glance at the beard movement, though he bore hard on the ladies and their dress.
The Old English nœddre (serpens) now loses its first letter, as it also did in the Alexander. Ekename, on the other hand, has since gained the letter n.
And addres bete hym by þe fete. — Page 166.
In this poem, both the Northern ky and the Southern keyn stand for the Latin vaccœ. Reafian gets the new sense of snatching:
Refte þe saule unto helle. — Page 154.
We have seen how in the South one came to stand for aliquis and quidam. It was brought into Lincolnshire, and is now used in a new sense, thereby avoiding the repetition of a substantive that has gone before;
She ledde hym to a moche felde,
So grete one nevere he behelde. — Page 104.[1]
London thieves speak of their booty as swag. The word of old meant nothing but a bag; the connexion between the two ideas is plain:
Þere was a wycche, and made a bagge,
A bely of leþyr, a grete swagge. — Page 17.
- ↑ In this century, many adjectives were to have one fastened on to them; we still hear, ‘he is a bad un,’ &c. Dr. Morris thinks that this one represents an old inflection ne. He quotes from the Ayenbite ane littlene (a little un).
