[1139]. Myrrha, daughter of Cinyras, king of Cyprus, who was changed into a myrrh-tree; Ovid, Met. x. 298. The tree wept tears of myrrh; id. x. 500.
[1146]. hir-e (MS. Cl. here), their, is here dissyllabic. unswelle, cease to swell, as in Bk. v. 214.
[1147]. 'All hoarse, and exhausted with shrieking.' forshright is the pp. of forshriken, to shriek excessively. Bell wrongly has for shright; but shright is not a noun. The Ital. has 'con rotta voce,' with broken voice; Fil. iv. st. 116.
[1153]. 'Being always on the point of departing.'
[1162]. 'Whether it was sad for him.'
[1174]. Cf. 'And bisily gan,' &c.; Prol. A 301.
[1179]. preignant (F. preignant, pregnant, Cotgrave), catching hold of tightly, hence, forcible; pres. part. of prendre, to seize. Quite distinct from pregnant when representing Lat. praegnans.
[1181]. woon, hope, resource. This answers to Early E. wān (see Stratmann), and is allied to Icel. ván, hope, expectation; cf. Icel. væna, to hope for, to ween. The word is monosyllabic, and the long o is 'open,' as shewn by its riming with noon, goon, from A. S. nān, gān. Bell quite fails to explain it, and Morris suggests 'remedy,' without assigning any reason. It is common in Rob. of Gloucester, with similar rimes, and does not mean 'custom' or 'habit' or 'manner,' as suggested in Mr. Wright's Glossary, nor has it any connection with M. E. wone, custom, which was dissyllabic, and had a short vowel in the former syllable; but it means, as here, 'hope' or 'resource.' For example: 'tho he ne sey other won' = when he saw nothing else to be done; Rob. Glouc. ed. Hearne, p. 12; ed. Wright, l. 275. 'And flowe in-to hor castles, vor hii nadde other won,' i. e. no other resource; id. p. 19, ed. Hearne, l. 442. This is one of the rather numerous words in Chaucer that have not been rightly understood.
[1185]. twighte, plucked; pt. t. of twicchen.
[1188]. 'Where the doom of Minos would assign it a place.' Boccaccio here uses the word inferno (Fil. iv. 120) to denote the place where Troilus' soul would dwell; which Rossetti explains to mean simply Hades. Chaucer's meaning is the same; he is referring to Æneid. vi. 431-3.