SELIM Andrew Breeze, Selim 11 (2001-2002): 169—176 FOUR MIDDLE ENGLISH NOTES: CALF 'SHANK', SILK 'PREY', CLANVOWE'S CUCKOO, AND WILLIAM WORCESTRE'S 'DONYTON' 1. AN IRISH-NORSE ETYMOLOGY FOR CALF 'FLESHY PART OF SHANK' The Oxford English Dictionary records calf 'fleshy hinder part of the shank of the leg' from the fourteenth century, citing the classic instance from the description of the Reeve in the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales: Fful longe were his legges and ful lene, Ylyk a staf; ther was no calf ysene. OED takes calf as apparently borrowed from Norse kálfi, of unknown origin, though adoption from Irish or Gaelic calpa 'leg, calf of leg' has been conjectured. Later dictionaries differ. Hence de Vries described Old Norse kalfa 'bone' as a poetic word which gave kalfi 'calf (of leg)', Modern Icelandic kálfi. He derived kalfa itself from kalfr 'calf, young of cow', seeing an analogy for an animal-name used for a body part in Norse mús 'mouse; muscle'. But de Vries, despite citing Björkman for derivation of English calf (of leg) from Norse, noted Falk and Torp's doubts here (Björkman 1900-2: 214; Falk & Torp 1910-11: 488; de Vries 1962: 298). Onions stated that English calf was borrowed from kálfi, which he described as of 'unknown origin, whence also Irish and Gaelic calpa' (1966: 136). Lesley Brown derives calf from Norse kálfi 'of unknown origin' (1993: 319). English calf (of leg) is surely from Norse kálfi, just as leg is from Norse leggr 'hollow (limb-)bone; leg'. But where is kálfi from? Here we take issue with de Vries. We shall try to show that kalpa and kálfi are from Irish colpthae 'shank; calf', and not vice versa, as Onions thought. Kálfi would thus be a Celtic loanword in Scandinavian, and calf a word of Irish origin Andrew Breeze 170 that reached English via Norse. It would here resemble English cross, from Norse kross, from Middle Irish cross, itself from Low Latin *crox (Vendryes 1987: 246-247). Middle Irish colpthae 'thick part of leg between knee and ankle; animal's shank', Modern Irish colpa 'calf; handle (of flail), cudgel', and Scottish Gaelic calpa 'calf of the leg' are well attested. Early evidence here occurs in the seventh- century life of St Patrick by Muirchú. This refers to ostium Colpdi, Inber Colptha or the mouth of the river Boyne, where (in Irish tradition) Colpda was drowned (Hogan 1910: 285, 457; de Paor 1993: 183). Here may be mentioned the village of Colp south-east of Drogheda on the east coast of Ireland, and the epithet colpthae in the names of Aed Colpdai and Dond Colptha. Occurring so early, the Irish word cannot be from Norse. It also figures in Irish saga. In the ninth-century Cattle Raid of Cooley, Queen Medb is visited by the prophetess Fedelm, of distracting beauty, whose golden hair reaches down to a da colptha 'the calves of her legs' (Best & Bergin 1929: 143; Vendryes 1987: 156-7). In the tenth-century tale of king Rónán, unwelcome visitors come as he is drying a cholptha frisin tenid 'his legs at the fire', from which murder results (Dillon 1946: 45; Greene 1955: 6). On the origin of colpthae, Celticists agree it is from Old Irish colba 'pillar, column, support', which occurs in a seventh-century hymn to St Bridget by Ultán of Ardbraccan, who calls her lethcholba flatha la Patraic 'co-pillar with St Patrick of heaven's kingdom' (Stokes & Strachan 1901-03: II, 326). The semantic development would be from 'column, support', to 'lower leg, shank', to 'fleshy part of shank, calf'. As for colba, Pedersen thought it cognate with Middle Welsh celffeint 'decayed stump', related to Greek kolos 'docked, stunted' and Russian kolz 'pole, post', from Indo- European *cel- 'break, cut, split' (Geiriadur 1950-2002: 457; Vendryes 1987: 157). Nevertheless, it may rather be linked with Early Modern Welsh colfen 'branch, bough' as a loan from Vulgar Latin columa 'column' (noted by Quintilian), or as a cognate of Latin columna 'column' and celsus 'high' from Indo-European *cel- 'exalted' (Geiriadur 1950-2002: 543; Vendryes 1987: 157). Four Middle English Notes 171 Whatever colba's origins, its early use suggests Old Norse kalfa 'bone' and Icelandic kálfi 'calf' are from Middle Irish colpthae 'shank; calf': not the reverse. If so, it is reasonable to take English calf (of leg) as a Norse loanword of Irish origin, like cross. 2. AN IRISH ETYMOLOGY FOR SILK 'QUARRY, GAME' IN THE LAND OF COKAYGNE London, British Library, MS Harley 913 is a Franciscan miscellany compiled in Ireland near the beginning of the fourteenth century (Pearsall 1977: 295; Wada 2003: 222-30). One poem in it is The Land of Cokaygne, a lively satire on Irish monks, which contains the word silk, perhaps more difficult to explain than one might think. The location of the satirized monastery casts light on this problem. Heuser took the 'monastery' as the Franciscan friary at Kildare; Smithers objected, pointing out that the poem's 'wel fair abbei / Of white monkes and of grei' must have been Cistercian; despite that, Bennett stated 'It is folly to read these scenes as satirical or as alluding to a particular Irish abbey' (Bennett & Smithers 1968: 341; Bennett 1986: 17). However, Jeffares has vindicated Smithers by identifying the abbey as Inishlounaght, otherwise known as Suir (1982: 11). This Cistercian house was founded in 1148 on a site by the river Suir some two miles west-south- west of Clonmel in County Tipperary, in southern Ireland. It was dissolved in 1540, but a few fragments of it still survive (Killanin & Duignan 1967: 174). The crux silk occurs at line 150 of The Land of Cokaygne, in a passage (Bennett & Smithers 1968: 143) which helps identify the 'wel fair abbei' as Inishlounaght. Another abbei is therbi– Forsoth, a gret fair nunnerie, Vp a riuer of swet milke, Whar is gret plente of silk. Now, the name 'Inishlounaght' derives from inis 'water meadow' and leamhnacht 'new milk, sweet milk', which the poet alludes to in his 'riuer of Andrew Breeze 172 swet milke'. Inishlounaght was the scene of an incident in 1228 (not the 1260s, as Jeffares claims), when Stephen of Lexington was making a visitation of Irish Cistercian houses. After his representative was wounded by henchmen of the prior of Inishlounaght, who ambushed him from behind a hedge by 'the house of the nuns which adjoined the abbey', Stephen came himself, restored order, and closed the convent of nuns. He closed similar convents of nuns adjoining the Cistercian abbeys of Jerpoint (near Kilkenny) and Mellifont (near Drogheda). Gwynn and Hadcock consider the Inishlounaght nuns 'probably lived well away from the monks' enclosure, possibly serving in the almonry or lay infirmary beside the outer gate and chapel' (Gwynn & Hadcock 1970: 135, 318). But Fr Colmcille took a bleaker view. Remarking that events at Inishlounaght almost pass belief, he describes the nuns' house as joined to the abbey, and the monks and nuns as sharing living accommodation (Griesser 1946: 14; Conway 1968: 117-118). It is hard to believe the lives of monks and nuns were innocent, and easy to see how they might give rise to the poet's ribaldry (Watt 1972: 54-60). This evidence shows the Cistercian abbey of The Land of Cokaygne was based on that of Inishlounaght. The pun on leamhnacht also shows the poet knew Irish. When this point is grasped, we can explain the line 'Wher is gret plente of silk'. Commentators have taken silk here in its obvious sense. Yet this reading is unnatural. If the Cokaygne nuns wore silk habits, the poet expresses this most oddly. Nor should we assume silk was found in the region. Although the poet indulges in fantasy, this seems a strained reading of the text at this point. Could silk thus be a Hiberno-English word borrowed from Irish? If we consult the dictionaries, we find Old Irish selg 'hunting; quarry, prey, game', Modern Irish seilg 'hunt, chase; game, prey, quarry'. Irish seilg (a cognate of Welsh hela) is a common word at all periods. In Modern Irish, mála seilge is a 'game bag', and seilg an lae is a 'day's catch' of fish (Geiriadur 1950-2002: 1844; O Dónaill 1977: 1084). This suggests an explanation of silk in our poem. The poet apparently refers to fish in the river or game on its banks. This interpretation of silk makes sense in its context. When talking of the countryside we might refer to game or fish as abundant, but hardly to silk as abundant. Four Middle English Notes 173 If the explanation of silk as 'quarry, game' is correct, we identify an Irish loan in The Land of Cokaygne, which we can add to russin 'afternoon snack' earlier in the poem, as well as to corrin 'can, pot', daisser 'sprinkler', and tromchery 'animal's liver' in a satire on Dubliners in the same manuscript (Bennett & Smithers 1968: 337; Breeze 1993: 16; Breeze 1996: 150-2). 3. THE NAME OF 'CUCKOO' IN CLANVOWE'S BOKE OF CUPIDE In his The Boke of Cupide, Sir John Clanvowe (c. 1341-91) plays upon the name of the cuckoo. At line 185 of the poem, warning of possible abandonment by a sweetheart, the cuckoo tells the nightingale, “And then shalt thou hoten as do I.” The nightingale at once replies, ffye!' quoth she, 'on thi name and on the. The god of love ne let the neuere ythe [thrive]! In his edition of the poem Scattergood echoes Skeat in explaining this as a pun on cuckoo and cuckold (1975, 46, 84). But Roscow disagrees. He points out that the context is one of love, not marriage; that the nightingale is female, so can hardly be cuckolded; and that evidence that cuckoo meant cuckold at this date is lacking (1998: 183-184). Roscow is surely right. But he does not explain what Clanvowe actually meant by 'hoten as do I'. The answer to this seems given by the OED entry for cuckoo. This notes the meaning 'fool' as applied to a person, originally with reference to the bird's monotonous call. The earliest example (of 1581) makes this clear: 'This lesson you learned of your Cowled Coockowes, to braule alwayes with bare names.' The allusion is not to adultery or laying eggs in the nests of others, but to (allegedly) fatuous utterance. English dialectal gowk 'cuckoo' also means 'fool, half-wit', for which the oldest evidence in OED is the adverb gowkedly of c. 1570. Gowk is from Old Norse: its German cognate Gauch now means 'fool, simpleton; oddity, oddball', the original sense 'cuckoo' surviving in dialect alone. A third OED entry, for obsolete yeke 'cuckoo', notes cognate Middle Low German gok 'simpleton' (a fourth, of goky 'fool' in Piers Plowman, may also be relevant Andrew Breeze 174 here). So the use of words for 'cuckoo' to mean 'fool' is an old one. If (as seems likely) it existed in English long before the attestations given in OED, this would explain Clanvowe's allusion. The cuckoo's warning would thus not concern adultery. He merely warns how abandonment by a sweetheart might make one look a fool. This more delicate explanation, making perfect sense in the context, accords with the poem's emphasis on the simplicity of the cuckoo's song, which he calls 'trewe and pleyn' (118), so that 'euery wight may vnderstonde me' (121). It also accords with what Roscow calls the 'conventional courtly treatment of romantic love' of Clanvowe's poem, which is careful to avoid sordidness. In short, it suggests Clanvowe's meaning was more subtle and innocent than editors have thought it. 4. WILLIAM WORCESTRE ON 'DONYTON', SUFFOLK On 8 November 1428, John Mowbray, second duke of Norfolk, was coming from dinner with Cardinal Beaufort at London Bridge when his barge sank (Gairdner 1876). William Worcestre (1415-before 1485) lists various gentlemen with him who survived, but adds that some sixteen of his household drowned. One of the dead was 'John of Pysale of "Donyton" where Lord Bardolf dwelt' (Harvey 1969: 360, 361). The identity of 'Donyton' has puzzled editors. But reference to DNB solves the problem. Its entry for Thomas Bardolf (1368-1408), warrior, mentions his son-in-law Sir William Phelip (1383-1441). Phelip, who fought at Agincourt and became treasurer of Henry V's household and chamberlain to Henry VI, was created Baron Bardolf in 1437. His main residences were at Erpingham (NGR TG 1931) in Norfolk and Dennington (TM 2867), Suffolk. Phelip was not Lord Bardolf in 1428, when the accident happened; and he had long been dead by the time Worcestre wrote. However, it was as Lord Bardolf that he was remembered. So 'Donyton' is surely Dennington in north-east Suffolk, two miles north of Framlingham, where the great castle of the Mowbrays still stands. The location of 'Donyton' thus not only shows where the luckless John of Pysale came from; it also underlines the East Anglian connections of the Mowbray family in the early fifteenth century. Four Middle English Notes 175 Andrew Breeze Universidad de Navarra REFERENCES Bennett, J. A. W. 1986: Middle English Literature. Clarendon Press, Oxford. Bennett, J. A. W. & G. V. Smithers eds. 1968: Early Middle English Verse and Prose, 2nd ed. Clarendon Press, Oxford. Best, R. I. & O. Bergin eds. 1929: Lebor na hUidre. Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. Björkman, E. 1900-02: Scandinavian Loans in Middle-English. M. Niemeyer, Halle. Breeze, A. C. 1993: Middle English tromchery. Notes and Queries 238: 16 Breeze, A. C. 1996: Middle English daisser. Éigse 39: 150-152. Brown, Lesley 1993: The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. Clarendon Press, Oxford. Conway, C. 1968: Comhcheilg na Mainistreach Móire. Sáirséal agus Dill, Baile Atha Cliath. de Paor, L. 1993: Saint Patrick's World. Four Courts Press, Dublin. de Vries, J. 1962: Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd ed. A.J. Brill, Leiden. Dillon, M. 1946: The Cycles of the Kings. Oxford University Press, London. Falk, H. S. & A. Torp 1910-11: Norwegisch-dänisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. C. Winter, Heidelberg. Gairdner, J. ed. 1876: The Historical Collections of a Citizen of London. Camden Society, London. Greene, D. ed. 1955: Fingal Rónáin. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin. Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru 1950-2002: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, Caerdydd. Andrew Breeze 176 Griesser, B. 1946: Registrum Epistolarum Stephani de Lexinton. Analecta Sacri Ordinis Cisterciensis 2: 1-118 Gwynn, A. & R. N. Hadcock 1970: Medieval Religious Houses: Ireland. Longmans, London. Harvey, J. H. ed. 1969: William Worcestre. Itineraries. Clarendon Press, Oxford. Hogan, E. 1910: Onomasticon Goedelicum. Hodges-Figgis, Dublin. Jeffares, A. N. 1982: Anglo-Irish Literature. Macmillan, London. Killanin, M. M. & M. V. Duignan 1967: The Shell Guide to Ireland. 2nd ed. Ebury Press, London. O Dónaill, N. ed. 1977: Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla. Oifig an tSoláthair, Baile Atha Cliath. Onions, C. T. ed. 1966: The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Clarendon Press, Oxford. Pearsall, D. A. 1977: Old English and Middle English Poetry. Routledge, London. Roscow, G. 1998: Clanvowe's Boke of Cupide, lines 185-186. Notes and Queries 243: 183-184. Scattergood, V. J. ed. 1975: The Works of Sir John Clanvowe. D. S. Brewer, Cambridge. Stokes, W. & J. Strachan eds. 1901-03: Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Vendryes, J. 1987: Lexique étymologique de l'irlandais ancien: Lettre C. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris. Wada, Y. 2003: An Englishman Saved by Sir Piers of Bermingham?. In Y. Wada ed. Peregrinator. Shohakusha, Tokyo. 222-230. Watt, J. A. 1972: The Church in Medieval Ireland. Gill and Macmillan, Dublin. Four Middle English Notes 177 * † *