"All through the night he was lost in spells and incantations, and at dawn the malign spirit in possession of the girl transferred itself to a medium. Assisted now by his favorite disciple, the bishop tried all manner of spells toward identifying the source of the trouble; and finally the spirit, hidden for so long, was forced to announce itself. 'You think it is this I have come for?' it shouted. 'No, no. I was once a monk myself, and I obeyed all the rules; but I took away a grudge that kept me tied to the world, and I wandered here and wandered there, and found a house full of beautiful girls. One of them died, and this one wanted to die too. She said so, every day and every night. I saw my chance and took hold of her one dark night when she was alone. But Our Lady of Hatsuse was on her side through it all, and now I have lost out to His Reverance. I shall leave you.' 'Who is that addresses us?' But the medium was tiring rapidly and no more information was forthcoming."
Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji (10th Century).
Translated by Edward G. Seidensticker.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Pretty Punk
A prostitute.
“I may grace her with the name of a Curtizan, a Backslider, a Prostitution, or such a Toy, but when all comes to all, 'tis but a plaine Pung.”
Thomas Middleton, Michaelmas Term (1607).
On a scale of 1 to 10: 1.
“I may grace her with the name of a Curtizan, a Backslider, a Prostitution, or such a Toy, but when all comes to all, 'tis but a plaine Pung.”
Thomas Middleton, Michaelmas Term (1607).
On a scale of 1 to 10: 1.
Beefeaters
The Yeoman of the Guard in the household of the Sovereign of Great Britain. A well-fed menial.
"Is not there a sort of employment, sir, called--beefeating? If your lordship please to make me a beefeater."
Henry Fielding, Pasquin (1736)
"Is not there a sort of employment, sir, called--beefeating? If your lordship please to make me a beefeater."
Henry Fielding, Pasquin (1736)
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Naperers
The person in charge of the royal table linen.
"My Lady Hinchingbroke I cannot say is a beauty, nor ugly, but is altogether a comely lady enough and seems very good-humoured, and I mighty glad of the occasion of seeing her before to-morrow. Thence home, and there find one laying of my napkins against to-morrow in figures of all sorts, which is mighty pretty; and it seems it is his trade and he gets much money by it, and do now and then furnish tables with plate and linen for a feast at so much, and a trade I could not have thought of. Thence I to Mrs. Turner and did get her to go along with me to the French pewterer's, and there did buy some new pewter against to-morrow; and thence to White Hall to have got a cook of her acquaintance, the best in England, as she says."
Samuel Pepys, Diary (March 13, 1668)
"My Lady Hinchingbroke I cannot say is a beauty, nor ugly, but is altogether a comely lady enough and seems very good-humoured, and I mighty glad of the occasion of seeing her before to-morrow. Thence home, and there find one laying of my napkins against to-morrow in figures of all sorts, which is mighty pretty; and it seems it is his trade and he gets much money by it, and do now and then furnish tables with plate and linen for a feast at so much, and a trade I could not have thought of. Thence I to Mrs. Turner and did get her to go along with me to the French pewterer's, and there did buy some new pewter against to-morrow; and thence to White Hall to have got a cook of her acquaintance, the best in England, as she says."
Samuel Pepys, Diary (March 13, 1668)
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Fowlers
Someone who hunts wild birds, whether for sport or food, especially one who uses nets.
"A bleary-eyed fowler, trust not, though he weep."
John Lydgate, Minor Poems (1430)
"A bleary-eyed fowler, trust not, though he weep."
John Lydgate, Minor Poems (1430)
Marauders and Pillagers
A soldier who lives off of plunder taken from people defeated in battle.
"To be a Marauder and Pillager upon the street and field of human credit and reputation is worse than to turn common padders."
R. Ferguson, View of an Ecclesiastick in his socks and buskins (1698)
"To be a Marauder and Pillager upon the street and field of human credit and reputation is worse than to turn common padders."
R. Ferguson, View of an Ecclesiastick in his socks and buskins (1698)
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Criers
One appointed in a town or community to make public announcements. A common or town crier. An auctioneer. A hawker.
"'You know how long I have been without news of my runaway slave girl. So you simply must make a public announcement offering a reward to the person who finds her, and insist on my orders being obeyed at once. Her person must be accurately described so that nobody will be able to plead ignorance as an excuse for harbouring her. Here is her dossier; Psyche is the name, and all particulars are included.' She handed him a little book and immediately went home. Mercury did as he was told. He went from country to country crying out: 'Oyez, oyez! If any person can apprehend and seize the person of a runaway princess, one of the Lady Venus's slave-girls, by name PSYCHE, or give any information that will lead to her discovery, let such a person go to Mercury, Town-crier of Heaven, in his temple just outside the precincts of Our Lady of the Myrtles, Aventine Hill, Rome. The reward offered is as follows: seven sweet kisses from the mouth of the said Venus herself, and one exquisitely delicious thrust of her honeyed tongue between his pursed lips.'"
Apuleius, The Golden Ass, (2nd Century A.D.)
[translation by Robert Graves]
"'You know how long I have been without news of my runaway slave girl. So you simply must make a public announcement offering a reward to the person who finds her, and insist on my orders being obeyed at once. Her person must be accurately described so that nobody will be able to plead ignorance as an excuse for harbouring her. Here is her dossier; Psyche is the name, and all particulars are included.' She handed him a little book and immediately went home. Mercury did as he was told. He went from country to country crying out: 'Oyez, oyez! If any person can apprehend and seize the person of a runaway princess, one of the Lady Venus's slave-girls, by name PSYCHE, or give any information that will lead to her discovery, let such a person go to Mercury, Town-crier of Heaven, in his temple just outside the precincts of Our Lady of the Myrtles, Aventine Hill, Rome. The reward offered is as follows: seven sweet kisses from the mouth of the said Venus herself, and one exquisitely delicious thrust of her honeyed tongue between his pursed lips.'"
Apuleius, The Golden Ass, (2nd Century A.D.)
[translation by Robert Graves]
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