And seyde, Maugys, thyn ore,
To drynke lette me go.'
Ritson, Met. Romances, ii. 57.
'I haue siked moni syk, lemmon, for thin ore';
Böddeker's Altengl. Dichtungen, p. 174.
See Specimens of E. Eng., Part I; Glossary to Havelok; &c.
3728. com of, i. e. be quick; like Have do, have done! We now say 'come on!' But strictly, come on means 'begin,' and come off means 'make an end.'
3751. 'If it be not so that, rather than possess all this town, I would like to be avenged.'
3770. viritoot must be accepted as the reading; the reading verytrot in MS. Hl. gives a false rime, as the oo in woot is long. The meaning is unknown; but the context requires the sense of 'upon the move,' or 'astir.' My guess is that viri- is from F. virer, to turn (cf. E. virelay), and that toot represents O. F. tot (L. totum, F. tout), all; so that viritoot may mean 'turn-all.' Cotgrave gives virevoulte, 'a veere, whirle a round gamball, friske, or turne,' like the Portuguese viravolta. The form verytrot (very trot) is clearly due to an attempt to make sense. MS. Cam. has merytot, possibly with reference to M. E. merytoter, a swing
(Catholicon); which is derived from mery, merry, and toteren, to totter, oscillate. In the North of England, a swing is still called a merry-trotter (corruption of merry-totter), as noted by Halliwell, who remarks that 'the meritot is mentioned by Chaucer,' which is not the fact. Both these 'glosses' give the notion of movement, as this is obviously the general sense implied. Whatever the reading may be, we can see the sense, viz. 'some gay girl (euphemism for light woman) has brought you thus so early astir'; and Gervase accordingly goes on to say, 'you know what I mean.'