Note-Book and Word-List to Gammer Gurton’s Needle
‘A, the infinitive have.
A-fine, now, at the moment: i.e. at the finish.
Alewives, women keeping ale-houses.
All-hallows, the old name for All Saints’ Day (1st Nov.): formerly ushered in by the ceremonies and merrymakings of All-Hallowe’en.
Alms, Alms-deed, charity, godsend.
A-meved, moved, disturbed.
And, if.
Apern, apron: the usual early form of the word.
Arrayed, (a) disconcerted, afflicted, put out. (b) bespattered.
Aventure, venture, risk, wager.
A-wreak, avenge.
Back side, at the back of the house, backyard.
Bald, short for bald-head, bald-pate: a generic term of abuse.
Balks, beams, rafters, an overhead rack used for storing bacon.
Bedlam, a crazy beggar, real or assumed: properly a convalescent from Bethlehem Hospital, an asylum for lunatics since 1547. Many of these unfortunates, being either unable or unwilling to work, adopted vagrancy as a profession, the Simon Pures being avouched by an official arm-badge. These were considerably augmented by the often deserving (but more frequently spurious) poor who had, until the dissolution of the monasteries, been the special care of the religious.
Bet, the old past tense of beat: still dialectical.
Blest, bliss.
Body-louse, proud, conceited, fine. Later we get “brisk as a body-louse” (Ray).
Bonable, abominable.
Boots, avails, profits, is of advantage, matters.
Borrow, pledge, security.
Boulogne, Our dear Lady of Boulogne, the image of the Virgin Mary at Boulogne, formerly in so much reverence that pilgrimages were made to it.
Brawl, brat, offspring.
Bread and salt, a common sixteenth-century oath, probably as symbolising the necessaries of life.
Bursting, breaking.
By and by, immediately.
Callet, a lewd woman, drab, scold.
Candle, “a candle shall they have a piece.” In all cases of distress it was usual with Roman Catholics to promise their tutelary saints to light up candles at their altars.
Chad, see Cham.
Cham, I am. The rustic dialect in the piece is conventional, but its general peculiarities are those of the south-western counties: iche = I, reduced to ch in cham, chould, or chwold (I would), chwere, &c. The south-western v for f is not generally used, but occurs in vylthy, vast, and in vathers; glaye (p. 5) for clay is probably not genuine dialect.
Channot, see Cham.
Chave, see Cham.
Chill, see Cham.
Chold, I hold. To hold a noble = to wager or bet.
Chope, see Cham.
Chwold, see Cham.
Cloth, “painted on a cloth,” the cloth hangings of taverns on which were depicted such popular themes as the Nine Worthies, the Prodigal Son, and, as in this case, Friar Rush (q.v.).
Coat, see Walk.
Cock’s Body, Cock’s Passion, Cock’s Precious, &c., a corruption of God: euphemistic.
Cock’s Mother (p. 44), see previous entry: the reader must not fall into the error of thinking that Gammer Gurton is here meant.
Cologne, “the three kings of Cologne.” These are supposed to have been the wise men who travelled to Bethlehem by the direction of the star. To these kings have been given the names of Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar.
Commodity, a word which formerly had plenty to do: anything that afforded advantage, interest, or convenience was commodity—profit, interest, accommodation, opportunity, wares, goods, movables, and even harlots.
Costard, (a) the head, pate.
(b) a large kind of apple.
Counsel, in secrecy, confidence.
Cox, a coxcomb, fool: jesters formerly wore a cap surmounted by a comb or crest resembling that of a cock: cf. cokes = fool.
Crab, i.e. a roasted crabapple put in a bowl of ale: it served a double purpose, to flavour and also to “chill” the beverage.
Crust, crushed.
Cullion, poltroon, base contemptible fellow: a generic term of abuse.
Curtal, a short-tailed horse, one docked in the tail.
Cut, a gelding: hence of both sexes, but specifically of women.
Daintrels, dainties, delicacies, luxuries.
Daisy, “leap at a daisy,” be hanged. The allusion is to a story of a man who, when the noose was adjusted round his neck, leapt off with the words, “Have at yon daisy that grows yonder.”
Defy, refuse, deny, renounce.
Diccon, a nickname for Richard: see Bedlam.
Disease, anxiety, trouble: originally general in meaning = absence of ease.
Doat, rave, act the fool.
Dock, tail, backside: i.e. get his backside kicked.
Dodge, “ga’ me the dodge,” i.e. cheated, tricked me.
Drab, a generic reproach—strumpet, slattern, slut.
Dress’d, served out, done for.
Dump, ill of ease, melancholy: now obsolete in the singular.
Everychone, everyone.
Eke, also, besides, likewise, moreover: still occasional in poetry.
Fellow, (a) “originally a courteous mode of addressing a servant, like the French mon ami: here fellow = comrade” (Bradley).
(b) “Not thy fellow, but thy dame,” i.e. not thy equal, but thy mistress.
Filth, vile person: a strong reproach.
Flying fiend, the devil.
Forty, generic for an indefinite number: forty pence (or ten groats) = the sum commonly offered for a small wager. Several law fees were fixed at that sum, viz., 3s. 4d.; and when money was reckoned by pounds, marks, and nobles, forty pence was just the half-noble, or the sixth of a pound.
Fox, “allured by the fox,” see History of Reynard the Fox (1701), vii. (Steevens).
Friar Rush, the principal character in a popular folk-lore story translated from the German. The devil, in friar’s garb, seeking to corrupt a convent of monks by delicious fare, assumes human shape, knocks at the door, and is admitted as cook’s boy. A favourable opportunity enabling him to dispose of his chief in a boiling cauldron, he is appointed to his place. The virtue of the convent is now at his mercy: the monks forget prayer and fasting over Ruus’ exquisite cookery. Strife and wantonness creep in, and the monks are all but lost, when a peasant who has involuntarily overheard a conclave of devils discussing Ruus, discloses his true nature. The abbot, summoning all the monks into the church, seizes Ruus, transforms him into a red horse, and commits him to the power of hell (Herford). There are several versions, the earliest known English one bearing date 1620, but the Stationers’ Company registers show it as entered in 1568-9. That the story was extremely popular is obvious from numerous contemporary allusions.
Gaffer, formerly a respectful address, but now in contempt: a corruption of granfer, itself a corruption of grandfather. The co-relative is gammer (q.v.).
Gammer, an old wife, old lady: formerly, like gaffer (which see), a respectful address. Gammer = grammer = grandmother.
Gear, a word, if not of-all-work, with plenty to do—goods, property in general, outfit, tools, necessaries, materials, stuffs, matters, business, affairs, manners, habits, customs, rubbish, trash—all are included: sometimes = affair, contention.
Gib, (a) a generic name for male cats: hence a common reproach.
(b) “To set the gib forward” = to expedite matters: proverbial.
Gis, Gys, Jis, &c., Jesus: supposed by some to be a corruption of the letters I.H.S. anciently set on altars, covers of books, &c., to denote the name of Jesus: rather, however, from the name itself.
Gitten, got.
Glay, see Cham.
Glooming, sulking: cf. “glum.”
God, “God ’ield you” (p. 143a), i.e. God yield you = God reward you: the compositor has duplicated the d of God in the next word: cf. Good den, God deven = good e’en.
Gog’s (passim), God’s. Thus, Gog’s blest, Gog’s bones, Gog’s bread, Gog’s cross, Gog’s malison, Gog’s sacrament, Gog’s sides, Gog’s soul, Gog’s wounds.
Good, property.
Gossip, a sponsor in baptism: hence an intimate acquaintance, neighbour.
Grammercy, an exclamation of surprise and thanks: Fr. grand merci.
Halse, neck, throat.
Have, behave.
Hoddepeak, fool, cuckold.
Hold, wager, bet.
Honesty, the honest sort of people.
Hood, “I can drink With him that wears a hood,” i.e. a friar; an allusion to their notoriously drunken habits.
Inowe, enough.
I-wis, I-wys, certainly, indeed, truly.
Jakes, privy, cesspool: Gammer racks her vocabulary for terms of reproach.
Jape, jest, joke.
Jet, Jetteth, in modern phrase to put on “side” (in word or act), brag, strut, vaunt, swagger: also in a weaker sense = to go.
Kind, nature.
Lead, copper.
Lese, lose.
Let, hindrance, hinder: archaic except in the phrase “without let or hindrance.”
Leve, dear, beloved: i.e. lief.
Lickdish, parasite.
Lither, sluggish, spiritless, or as Hazlitt says “wicked,” but the true reading is an open question.
Longs, is appropriate to, fitting for, beseeming.
Loose-breech, a slovenly lout.
Lose (p. 27), read lese for the rhyme.
Losel, a generic reproach—profligate, rake, scoundrel; and (in weakened form) ne’er-do-well, good-for-nothing.
Malt-worm, tippler, toper.
Mas, a vulgar or jocular shortening of master, usually followed by a proper name or official title: also Mast.
Masterdom, mastership.
Mell, meddle, fight, interfere.
Meve, move.
Minds, intends, purposes.
Minions, wantons, strumpets: also in a weaker sense, favourite, darling.
Mo, more.
Moiling, ado, toiling.
Mot, may.
Narse, one of many instances in which n is found prefixed to a word properly commencing with a vowel: cf. newt, nickname, nuncle; also the converse flexion omitting n, adder, apron, umpire, orange, for nadder, napron, numpire, norange.
Nawl, awl: see previous entry.
Ne, nor.
Near, nearer.
Nicely, carefully, quietly, gently.
Noble, coin value 6s. 8d.: see Chold and Hold.
Nother, neither, nor.
On-live, alive, of which on-live is an earlier form.
Or, ere.
Ought, owed.
Pad, see Straw.
Palter, to speak indistinctly, mumble.
Parts, parties.
Party, person: once literary but now vulgar.
Patch, (a) fool, buffoon, jester: the nickname of Cardinal Wolsey’s domestic fool, whose real name was Sexton. Murray suggests the influence of It. pazzo (= fool), combined with the motley wear of professional buffoons.
(b), beat, drub, “dust.”
Patins, “it went on patins” (p. 27), i.e. a great clatter was made: often used figuratively of the tongue.
Perfit, perfect.
Pes, hassock: an East Anglian word.
Pigsnie, an endearment.
Pild, stripped, shorn: whether by shaving or disease.
Pill, plunder, strip.
Pin, latch, bolt.
Pissing while, a short time.
Planch, to plank on: i.e. to plaster by patching all round.
Pouped, deceived.
Prancome, anything odd or strange, a trick, device.
Puddings, entrails, guts.
Pullen, poultry.
Quean, a wanton.
Rakes (p. 32), a term of abuse: not found elsewhere, and seemingly chosen because of the jingle: cf. the whole passage. Possibly an abbreviated form of Rakehell or Rakeshame.
Ramp, wanton, strumpet.
Rave, talk wildly, without thought.
Receiver (p. 51), “perhaps we should read recetter for the sake of the rhyme” (Bradley).
Rechless, “swear to Diccon, rechless” (p. 19), reckless: i.e. without reservation, not minding the sense of the humorous oath which the Baily administers. Another example of similar fooling is the Highgate oath which travellers toward London were required to take at a certain tavern at Highgate—that they would not prefer small beer before strong, unless indeed they liked the small better; never to kiss the maid if they could kiss the mistress, unless the maid was prettier; and other statements of a similar kind.
Reed, (a) rood.
(b) counsel, advice.
Rig, strumpet.
Right side, “thou rose not on thy right side” p. 17), i.e. “you did not commence the day well,” “you are not lucky.”
Romth, room, space.
Rotten, rat.
Rush, see Friar Rush.
St. Charity, a known saint among Roman Catholics.
St. Dominic, the founder of the order of Dominicans or Black Friars: the order was approved by Pope Innocent III. in 1215, and was established in London, building the Convent of the Blackfriars in 1276: the name is perpetuated in the bridge.
Scabb’d Horse, sorry “screw” of a horse: scabb’d and scald (q.v.) are synonymous, and both are used in contempt.
Scald, scabby, mean, sorry: hence scald squire = a term of contempt; scald (or skald), subs. = a mean wretch.
Seven, proverbial, according to the context, for an indefinite length of time.
Shave, extort, strip, cheat.
Shoeing-horn, a pretext, an incitement.
Shreve, shrive, confess, absolve: shreve by poetic licence.
Shrew, (a) curse, call over the coals.
(b) the word was formerly applied in contempt to both sexes.
Shrive, confess: see Shreve.
Sikerly, securely, certainly.
Sir John, a priest.
Sir Reverence, an apology on mentioning anything for which an excuse was thought necessary. Lat. salvâ reverentiâ, whence sa’ reverence, sur-reverence, and sir-reverence.
Sith, Sithens, since, because.
Slip, neglect.
Smell, detect, understand, “twig.”
Smolders, smothers.
Sort, company, assembly.
Sossing, dashing, sousing.
Spurrier, harness-maker.
Squirt, diarrhœa, squitters.
Stewed whore, a foundered jade of the stews.
Stick, be scrupulous, hesitate.
Stound, trouble, disaster, blow: also interval, time, station, place—hence, generally, circumstances, exigence, situation.
Stour, uproar, tumult.
Straw, “a pad in the straw,” toad: i.e. something lurking or hidden.
Swink, labour, drudgery.
Swyth, with vigour and speed, promptly, quickly.
Tar-leather, a term of abuse.
The, “so mote I the,” so may I thrive.
Throat-bole, gullet, windpipe.
Tossing, first-rate, sharp.
T’ou, thou.
Town, “the ground attached to the house: cf. Scots toun” (Bradley).
Toys, generic for trifles, persons, and things of little importance, tricks, fancies, &c.
Trot, old woman; usually in contempt, and = drab, slut, strumpet.
Trowl, “trowl to me the bowl” (p. 15), a common phrase in drinking for passing the vessel about.
Trump, the card game of triumph.
Twenty devil way, a favourite malediction: i.e. in the name of twenty devils.
Two-legged fox, a thief, two-legged cat is a colloquialism which is still of service in everyday speech as a retort to blame put on a cat for stealing—“a two-legged cat, then!”
Washical, i.e. What shall I call [it]; in modern guise, Whatch-em-may-call-it, &c.
Weet, learn, know.
Wese, we shall.
Whewling, crying, blubbering, fretful.
Wide, wide of the mark: cf. modern slang usage = well-informed, clever, &c.
Woll, will.
Yede, went.