For my Logic and Rhetoric class we are reading Mistress Masham’s Repose by T. H. White, and our teacher wants us to fully understand the story. That means, any reference that we don’t understand, any word that we can’t define, we need to look up. If any of you can help, please do. For people and places, I would appreciate a (short) description of why they’re important and the dates of any significant events associated with them. For words, the definition as it is used by the English, e.g. Rates - taxes.
I’m only to chapter 8, so this list will expand.
Princess Amelia
General Wolfe
Queen Anne (just need years as monarch for her)
Glorious First of June (may not be anything, but capitalization made me curious, important event?)
Northampton Anglers
Mistress Morley
Tyde
boma
bowling green
Quinba Flestrina
tort
primus stove
Lawks
Journal of George Fox
Holy Living by J. Taylor
The Pilgrim’s Progress
Comte de Paris
Imperial Chemicals
Isidore
Physiologus (I think I know what this is…)
tipples
Master of Trinity
Dr. Cook
supernumerary
Tortugas
Martin (a last name I think, didn’t have an accompanying first name)
Swallow (ditto)
Ld. Treasurer
Twit-nam
Dean (same as Swallow and Martin)
Motte (again)
Friesians
Hundreds and Thousands (can’t remember the context now)
pram
Hogarth
bucaneered (this was used to describe the preparation of a cow for eating) vade mecum (don’t need the translation, just what it is used to mean)
crupper (actually, I can about guess what this is, given the context and picture. “[the box]…which was strapp’d, as usual, to the Horse’s Crupper…”) Edit: List expanded
pomphoilugoppaphlamagoria (not sure if this is real or just a made up word)
Viscount Torrington and Cape Passaro
Order of Garter
Grinling Gibbons
Herculaneum
hawser
the Unities
monopteran
Rake’s Aogies (I’ll have to check the spelling on this one)
coxcomb Edit: List expanded again
Dr. Basil Atkinson
Ambrose
tog
Amaryllis
smoak
breeches apparatus
Richard Hughes
in the pink of training
something about a “ship of the line”, 1703, and a gale
Any help on clarifying these words, people, and so forth is appreciated. Thank you in advance.
The only one I’m really familiar with is <i>General Wolfe</i>. He was the English general who led English to the final battle for Quebec (and Canada) at the plains of Abraham against the French army and its general, Montcalm. The French army’s reinforcements were not far away, but Wolfe lured the available French garrison out and defeated them. Both Montcalm and Wolfe died of wounds from the battle, which lasted from ten to thirty minutes.
Edit: Oh yes, and apparently <i>Comte de Paris</i> is a title given by Louis-Philippe to his grandson Philippe (1838-1894) to show his gratitude to the people of Paris.
Originally posted by Cless Alvein The only one I’m really familiar with is <i>General Wolfe</i>. He was the English general who led English to the final battle for Quebec (and Canada) at the plains of Abraham against the French army and its general, Montcalm. The French army’s reinforcements were not far away, but Wolfe lured the available French garrison out and defeated them. Both Montcalm and Wolfe died of wounds from the battle, which lasted from ten to thirty minutes.
That was pretty cool how that battle begin. The story behind it.
Physiologus looks like greek for physiologist for me. Tortugas is the name of an island in the Caribbean Sea.
As for bucaneering, it goes like this: indians here had developed many things that didn’t exist in Europe before Brazil was discovered (despite being technologically primitive). When portuguese navigators discovered these lands, they got a lot of interesting items from the indians and didn’t care about giving such things new names, using the names that indians had already given. One such item was the bucã (described by dictionary.com as “a rack used for roasting or for storing things, or a racklike platform supporting a house”). Pronnounced as ‘Boo-Kan’.
When the portuguese took it to Europe, the french gave it a more european name, boucan. People in the islands of Hispaniola and Tortugas, in the caribean region, liked using the boucan for making barbecues, and were called boucaniers. Boucanier was borrowed into English in the form buccaneer. That region was also infested with pirates, and somehow the English got to call pirates by the same word (seems like people gave up barbecuing and got a more profitable way of life). So you see, buccaneer doesn’t sound so good now that you know that a buccaneer is merely a barbecuer. Imagine Guybrush Threepwood saying “I am GT, a mighty BARBECUER!!!”
hmm, actually I found what a physiologus is, in my notes from class. It probably is Greek, seeing as they originate from Alexandria in the 2nd century. They are books with descriptions of animals and short stories with moral teachings. They are the basis for bestiaries, which were like a dictionary of animals.
Thank you all for the information provided so far.
Queen Anne: The last reigning Stuart monarch of England (ruled 1702 – 1714).
bowling green: A lawn used for lawn bowling.
Quinba Flestrina: It looks like a feminine form of Quinbus Flestrin, which is the name that the Lilliputians give to Gulliver in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.
tort: A term in civil law: an act of wrongdoing for which the injured party may seek compensation for damages. Also a French word meaning ‘wrong’, ‘incorrect’: e.g. tu as tort ‘you are wrong’.
The Pilgrim’s Progress: A work of literature; an allegory of the journey of the Christian soul in life, written by John Bunyan (1628 – 1688). It was published in 1678.
Comte de Paris. The count of Paris.
Frisians: The people who live in the Frisian Islands off the coast of Holland. Ethnically and linguistically, they are closest to Anglo-Saxons.
pram: A clipped form of perambulator, which is what Americans generally call a baby carriage.
vade mecum: A handbook or other aid carried on the person for immediate use when needed.
crupper: (1) A strap holding a saddle which prevents the saddle from sliding forward. (2) The hindquarters of a horse. (3) The piece of bard (mediaeval horse armour) which fits over the horse’s hindquarters.
Order of the Garter: An order of knighthood created by King Edward III of England (1322 – 1377) modelled on the Knights of the Round Table. In Modern Times, membership was basically an honour given to prestigious persons; there was no real chivalry involved.
Herculaneum: An Ancient Roman town south of Mount Vesuvius which was also buried in the same eruption which buried Pompei.
coxcomb: Literally: cock’s comb; the stereotypical cap of a jester or fool.