<< >> Up Title Contents

TREATMENT OF WORDS


     Personally I should have preferred to retain all the words which Misyn employs, in the hope that some would find their way back into our too much latinized English; but I feared to outweary the patience of the reader. The following is a list of those which I have altered in the text, with their nearest modern equivalents.
     
     addling to earning
     aseth satisfaction
     bolnes puffs up
     chinche miser
     fagiar, faged flatterer, flattered
     fliting reproof
     forthink repent
     foyd pledge
     groching grumbling
     groundly from the root
     inhiry inward or inner
     lat behave
     large generous
     leman beloved
     loving, lufing praise
     menged, melled mingled
     ugg abhor
     undirlowt overcome
     unneth scarcely
     sam together
     scrithe glide
     sparples scatter
     tityst soonest
     wode, wodeness mad, madness
     well to wither
     
     I have kept words which are of common occurrence in the Bible and Prayer Book, and those still in use in Scotland. There are, however, some words which remain in modern English but which have altered or restricted their meaning. Such are very apt to mislead the modern reader. I have, therefore, treated them freely, retaining them when in a modern sense or when their meaning is quite apparent, but changing them if the meaning is at all ambiguous. I append here a full list of these, to avoid the multiplication of footnotes.
     Misyn often uses "withouten" for "without," for the sake of rhythm, and in this I have followed him; nor have I taken upon myself to suppress his constant repetition of "truly," "forsooth," "doubtless," "certain," "sickerly." Sometimes these translate the Latin vero, valde, certe, etc., but more often than not stand for an ordinary conjunction, such as enim, namque, autem. O.E.D. against a word in the footnote signifies that the actual word or phrase found in Misyn is quoted in the Oxford English Dictionary.
     Where the meaning is obscure I have altered:
     
     against to towards
     avoid make void
     barely utterly
     beholding contemplating, or considering
     busily continually
     charge care, consider
     cherish allure
     deadly, deadliness mortal, mortality
     drawn to cleave (L. adhaerere)
     emonge in the meantime
     herefore hence
     honily honeyed, honey-sweet
     ill evil
     kind nature, essence
     lasts perseveres
     liking delight, pleasure
     lovely lovable
     longs languishes
     lust pleasure
     manner measure
     mind memory
     namely especially
     plainly entirely, altogether (L. penitus)
     rots, unable to rot corrupts, incorruptible
     softly little by little, slowly
     soundly with sweet sound, songful
     stands continues
     swells inflates
     show declare
     taken received
     taught imbued
     thinking meditating, or meditation
     use enjoy, exercise
     wanting lacking
     wherefore whence
     withhold hold to, retain
     worship honour
     wretchedness wickedness
     

     


<< >> Up Title Contents
This document (last modified March 02, 1998) from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library server, at @Wheaton College