(Shepherd's Calendar, July, l. 95.)
With this we may compare the metaphorical use of home-spun—
"What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here,
So near the cradle of the fairy queen?"
(Midsummer Night's Dream, iii. 1.)
The source of Old Fr. burel is perhaps Lat. burrus, fiery, from Gk. πῦρ, fire.
Romance was originally an adverb. To write in the vulgar tongue, instead of in classical Latin, was called romanice scribere, Old Fr. romanz escrire. When romanz became felt as a noun, it developed a "singular" roman or romant, the latter of which gave the archaic Eng. romaunt. The most famous of Old French romances are the epic poems called Chansons de geste, songs of exploits, geste coming from the Lat. gesta, deeds. Eng. gest or jest is common in the 16th and 17th centuries in the sense of act, deed, and jest-book meant a story-book. As the favourite story-books were merry tales, the word gradually acquired its present meaning.
A part of our Anglo-Saxon church vocabulary was supplanted by Latin or French words. Thus Anglo-Sax. ge-bed, prayer, was gradually expelled by Old Fr. preiere (prière), Lat. precaria. It has survived in beadsman—
"The beadsman, after thousand aves told,
For aye unsought-for slept among his ashes cold."
(Keats, Eve of St Agnes.)