Note. This Glossary is intended to be a complete Vocabulary of the language used by Gower in his French works, recording as far as possible every word and every form of spelling, with a sufficient number of references to serve for verification. The meanings in English are given only where this seems desirable, either for explanation of the less usual words or to distinguish the various uses of those that are more familiar. It must be remembered that some of the meanings given are conjectural, and the unqualified statements of the Glossary are sometimes discussed in the Notes.

With regard to the references, it should be noted that the number of them is not at all an indication of the frequency with which a word occurs. Many of the commonest words, occurring in one form of spelling only and presenting no difficulty, are dismissed with a single reference to the first passage where they occur in each section of the author’s works. On the other hand words which are found with different forms of spelling usually have references given for each form, and often the fact that a word is of uncommon occurrence or presents some difficulty as regards meaning has caused it to be followed by a larger number of references. It should be observed that for the purposes of the Glossary our author’s French works have been regarded as falling into two distinct sections, the first consisting of the Mirour de l’Omme, and the second of the Balades and the Traitié, and wherever a word or form occurs in both sections the double reference is given. This is done in order to exhibit the likeness or difference of the language used, and to serve as additional evidence of the authorship of the Mirour. For Proper Names a complete set of references is regularly given, but allegorical names and personified vices and virtues are not usually classed as Proper Names.

The references to a number only are to lines in the Mirour de l’Omme. The letters D, B, and T, followed by a Roman and an Arabic numeral, refer to the balades in the Dedication, the Cinkante Balades, and the Traitié respectively. These are not referred to in the Glossary by lines but only by stanzas. The Table of Contents at the beginning of the Mirour is referred to by the letter C. Such a reference as 16272 (R) is to the rubric following l. 16272.

Where difference of spelling consists in the insertion or omission of a single letter, the fact is often recorded by means of parenthesis, e.g. ‘con(n)estable,’ ‘baro(u)n,’ indicating that both ‘connestable’ and ‘conestable,’ ‘baroun’ and ‘baron,’ are found. The inflexional s or z in the termination of singular nouns is usually treated in the same way, but references are not always given for both forms. The gender of substantives is not noted, because so much irregularity prevails in this respect that it seems hardly worth while to investigate the subject. All verbal inflexions of any interest have been set down. The grammatical abbreviations, s. substantive, a. adjective, v.a. verb active, v.n. verb neuter, 1 s.p. first person sing. pres. tense, pp. past participle, and so on, will be readily understood. Words which occur in the text with an initial mute h dropped owing to elision will usually be found under the letter h.

ADDENDA

The following words and references are added here, having been omitted in their proper places:—

INDEX TO THE NOTES