Ivanhoe (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (86 page)

Read Ivanhoe (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Online

Authors: Walter Scott

BOOK: Ivanhoe (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

14Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

Read Book Download Book

A large steel knife.

Born into the service (that is, a serf).

For straining jelly.

Cavalry officer.

Deliberate wrongdoing.

That is, the advantage (based on nautical terminology).

Plague.

Odysseus’ loyal swineherd.

That is, his brow.

Small horses.

A Maltese cross, with eight points.

Mock combat involving the casting of spears.

Bless you, my sons (Old French).

Stewards.

One churchman does not take tithes from another (Latin).

Half-turn (French).

Norse god adopted by the Anglo-Saxons.

Rules (French) of courtly love.

Pilgrim.

Pillaging.

The left hand—that is, the wrong side.

Types of buttermilk (in Latin,
dulce
is “sweet” and
acidum
“sour”) used according to the Christian calendar.

That is, Muslims.

Reward.

Cross.

In those days the Jews were subjected to an Exchequer, specially dedicated to that purpose, and which laid them under the most exorbitant impositions. —L. T. [author’s note].

An upstairs room.

On the rear (French).

That is, a fish vulnerable to predators of both sea and sky.

God bless you.

Spanish coin.

The “green man” of English folklore.

This sort of masquerade is supposed to have occasioned the introduction of supporters into the science of heraldry [author’s note].

Color worn by Robin Hood’s followers.

Outdoing.

Pranced.

Clasp.

That is, money; marks and byzants are types of coins.

Bow.

The power of inertia (Latin).

By all that is holy.

Head to toe (French).

This term of chivalry transferred to the law gives the phrase of being attainted of treason [author’s note].

Literally, unfortunate.

Beware the raven (French).

Beware, I am here (Latin).

Venetian coins.

Presumption (French).

Horse protected by armor plate.

Plague of boils (see the Bible, Exodus 9:9).

Dregs.

Coin that has been pared down for its metal.

That is, head.

Execute a circular flourish of the sword (French).

Let them go to it! (French).

Beau-seant
was the name of the Templars’ banner, which was half black, half white, to intimate, it is said, that they were candid and fair towards Christians, but black and terrible towards infidels [author’s note].

Official staff, which could be thrown down to halt the fighting.

Youth.

Front plate of an armored horse.

At a distance.

Bull’s-eye.

Bread of fine flour and currant cakes.

Italian for the black-cap, a small bird of the warbler variety.

Man’s tunic.

That is, Saint Witless.

Holding pen for stray cattle.

Wild ox (now extinct).

Tekla was an early and obscure saint from Asia Minor, featured in the
Apocrypha
(a group of religious or moral texts contemporary to the Old Testament but not included in it).

Excepting what is necessary (Latin).

That is, all comers.

Glaive:
spear or sword;
brown-bill:
broadsword.

A rere-supper was a night-meal, and sometimes signified a collation which was given at a late hour, after the regular supper had made its appearance.—L. T. [author’s note].

Part of the satanic parody of the Catholic Mass.

Danish king of England (ruled 1040-1042); he died of gluttony.

Steward or butler.

Nota Bene.
—We by no means warrant the accuracy of this piece of natural history, which we give on the authority of the Wardour MS.—L. T. [author’s note].

Fiddler.

Henry’s History, edition 1805, Vol. VII., p. 346 [author’s note].

Pagan God from Slavic, not Saxon, mythology.

Tail.

Still.

By the Gods! (French).

That is, as a lover, not a husband (French).

I wish the Prior had also informed them when Niobe was sainted. Probably during that enlightened period when “Pan to Moses lent his pagan horn.” L.T. [author’s note].

Destructive angel of the biblical book of Revelation 9:11.

Signature.

That is, three feet long.

Scraps.

Peace be with you (Latin).

A traveler fell among thieves (Latin); slightly altered from text in the Bible, Luke 10:30.

The Latin is an allusion to the Bible, Luke 8:30: “What is thy name? And he said, Legion” (KJV).

The Latin is an allusion to the Bible, Psalm 45:1, which can be translated as “My heart burst out.”

Enough (Italian and Spanish).

Early form of rounders, an English ball-and-bat game somewhat similar to baseball.

In guard duty, a double shift requiring unbroken vigilance through night and day.

I beg your mercy, most reverend master (Latin).

Celtic version of Hell.

That is, he has died.

Dagger.

Main tower.

Catapult.

From
The Song of Roland,
an eleventh-century epic poem in Old French. The war-song of Rollo was employed by the Normans at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

That is, accompany the song.

Insolence and presumption.

Dutch coin.

Baby’s cap.

That is, a mortal man.

The City of God (Latin).

If anv man is tempted by the Devil (Latin).

That is, worthless men (see the Bible, 1 Samuel 30:22).

Low-born.

Vest.

That is, Muslims and Christians.

Forward De Bracy! ... Front-de-Boeuf to the rescue! (French).

Absolve.

Pagan idol in the Bible, Leviticus 18:21.

Shield with heraldic design.

Without the benefit of confessing their sins and receiving the divine sacrament.

Ornamented belt worn over the shoulder.

Norman war cry.
Mount Joye
was the standard (mounted banner or flag) of the early French kings, ritually presented to them on eve of battle by the Abbot of St. Denis in Paris (French).

Type of thin silk.

God be with you (Latin).

Half-leap (French).

French coin of small value.

That is, God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would create a great nation (the Bible, Genesis 12:1-3).

Elsewhere called Gilbert; presumably Scott’s error.

Befuddled.

French coin.

Magpie.

To put hands on the servants of the Lord (Latin).

I excommunicate you (Latin).

That good-for-nothing (Latin).

Used for curling hair.

A commissary is said to have received similar consolation from a certain commander-in-chief, to whom he complained that a general officer had used some such threat towards him as that in the text [author’s note].

God save you, worthy reverend (Latin).

That is, November 30, when the church traditionally began collecting tithes; coming at a convenient date in the year, after harvest, it became a common date for settling debts of all kinds.

That is, assist in doing evil.

When needed, and to ward off the cold (Latin).

Notorious robber (Latin).

Sacred objects (Latin).

Chivalric heroes of popular romance.

Knights of the Arthurian legend.

Expensive furs.

St. Mary the Virgin, founded in London in 1185.

See the 13th chapter of Leviticus [author’s note].

On the Reading of Letters.

Aymer, Prior of Saint Mary of Jorvaulx.

May the devouring lion ever be crushed (Latin).

Signs and spells.

The edict which he quotes is against communication with women of light character [author’s note].

Wench.

The gift of loving thanks (French).

That is, caught in the act.

Hospital (literally, House of God).

Come let us sing to the Lord (Latin).

The reader is again referred to the rules of the poor military brotherhood of the Temple, which occur in the
Works
of St. Bernard.—L. T. [author’s note].

Fortune-telling by the drawing of lots.

Essoine
signifies excuse, and here relates to the appellant’s privilege of appearing by her champion, in excuse of her own person on account of her sex [author’s note].

Turkish coin.

Blood-letting.

Anglo-Saxon coin.

Shielded.

That is, the Holy Spirit.

Sheltered, protected side (nautical terminology).

War horse.

Fruit of the Times
(a fifteenth-century historical text).

Dried cod.

Short sword.

Making faces.

Short love song.