& his tabarde to-torne & his toteȝ oute.
l. 41.
Here both the Glossary and Dictionary suggest that ‘toteȝ’ is a corrupt form meaning ‘toes’, the suggestion being made to fit the word ‘oute’, regardless of the fact that the lad’s feet had already been described in the previous line. In all probability ‘his toteȝ oute’ means: his locks disordered, hanging loosely about, cp. tot (Lan. Sus. Hmp. Som.), in forms tooat, tote (Lan.), a tuft, as of grass, hair, &c. The poem Patience is the story of Jonah, enlarged, and pointed with a moral. When Jonah is told to rise up quickly and take his way to Nineveh, he fears the consequences:
I com [if I came] wyth þose tyþynges, þay ta [take] me bylyue,
Pyneȝ me in a prysoun, put me in stokkes,
Wryþe [bind] me in a warlok, wrast out myn yȝen.
ll. 78-80.
Patience
Both Glossary and Dictionary translate ‘warlok’ by prison, which, besides being a superfluous repetition of ‘prisoun’ in the preceding line, does not harmonize with the verb ‘wryþe’. A far better sense is gained by taking ‘warlok’ to mean chain, fetter, cp. warlock (Lan. Chs. Som.), to tighten the rope or chain which binds the load upon a wagon; sb. a method of tightening the rope or chain of a wagon-load, the fastening thus made, cp. ‘Warloke, or fetyr lock: Sera pedicalis uel compedalis,’ Prompt. Parv. circa 1440.
These are only a few examples out of very many which could have been cited from these fourteenth-century poems alone, to illustrate the way in which the study of modern dialects helps us to a better understanding and appreciation of our older literature.