English words first attested in Chaucer

English words first attested in Chaucer, or special manuscript words of Chaucer, are a set of about two thousand English words whose first use found in existing manuscripts is credited to Geoffrey Chaucer.^[1][2][3] This does not necessarily mean that he was the person to introduce these words into English, but that the earliest extant uses of these words are found in Chaucerian manuscripts.^[4][5] Many of the words were already in everyday speech in 14th-century England (especially London).^[6][7] The claim is that these words are found for the first time in written manuscripts where he introduced them in one of his extensive works from 1374 to 1400 as the first author to use these particular words.^[2] Many of Chaucer's special manuscript words from the 14th century are used today: absent, accident, add, agree, bagpipe, border, box, cinnamon, desk, digestion, dishonest, examination, finally, flute, funeral, galaxy, horizon, infect, ingot, latitude, laxative, miscarry, nod, obscure, observe, outrageous, perpendicular, Persian, princess, resolve, rumour, scissors, session, snort, superstitious, theatre, trench, universe, utility, vacation, Valentine, veal, village, vulgar, wallet, and wildness.^[3]

Etymology[]

Christopher Cannon, in The Making of Chaucer's English, gives a complete detailed work on the etymology of Chaucer's special manuscript words and references the Middle English Dictionary (MED) definitions and etymology of each of these words.^[8] He points out that the MED does not give details on the etymology of many of Chaucer's derived words, including many compounds, some participial adjectives, and most gerunds.^[8] Cannon also points out that, while the Oxford English Dictionary lists Chaucer as the first cited author of these words, it also is mostly silent on the etymologies of these particular derived words.^[8][9] Cannon furnishes a complete list of Chaucer's special manuscript words with their etymology.^[8]

Historian Albert Baugh points out that some of Chaucer's aureate words came from Latin or French origin.^[10] Some of Chaucer's aureate words like laureate, mediation, and oriental eventually became a part of everyday English. Baugh points out that the innovations of word development into common speech and everyday usage, such as these Chaucer words, is of considerable interest in the history of style.^[11]

List[]

Below is a complete list of the 1,977 Chaucer's special manuscript words that are first found in the existing manuscripts below as listed in the Oxford English Dictionary as being the "first cited author".^[9] Some now have different spellings and others are given the "root" word definition.^[8] Some of these words are now dated or obsolete.^[12] These manuscript words first found written in Chaucer's work, from The Canterbury Tales and other of his publications as shown below, were published in the 14th century.^[8][9]

The Canterbury Tales[]

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of tales written sometime after 1373, with "sondry folk" that resemble Boccaccio's stories of The Decameron of fleeing nobles.

General Prologue[]

The General Prologue introduces the tellers of the tales, with much wry and subtle social commentary.

acate, affile, alight, ambler, army, arrive, bagpipe, begster, borax, bourdon, bracer, bream, cape, ceruse, chape, clasp, cordial, dagger, debtless, digestible, dormant, Flandrish, foot-mantle, foster, gaud, hostelry, householder, in, jingle, knob, licentiate, line, luce, magic, magician, marrowbone, mercenary, miscarry, moral, pardoner, parvis, patent, perse, session, significavit, stew, wallet, whistling

The Knight's Tale[]

The Knight's Tale introduces many typical aspects of knighthood such as courtly love and moral issues.

alan, attourne, breastplate, broid, buckle, cerrial, chaas, Circe, citrine, clottered, collared, execute, expel, expulsive, feminie, fluttery, funeral, gigge, holm, howl, huntress, intellect, kemp, lacing, laxative, Lucina, melancholic, menacing, mishap, mortal, mover, murmur, murmuring, muzzle, naker, narcotic, nymph, obsequy, obstacle, opie, opposite, oyez, parament, party, perturb, pharmacy, plain, portraiture, possibility, princess, progression, refuge, renting, returning, save, saving, serie, shouting, smiler, strangle, strangling, tester, thoroughfare, turret, vanishing, variation, vital, vomit, whippletree, winged

The Miller's Tale[]

The Miller's Tale is told by a drunken miller to "quite" (requite) The Knight's Tale. The word "quite" here means to make repayment for a service – in this case, telling stories.

almagest, bragget, chant, cinnamon, fart, forge, haunch-bone, interrogation, keek, kneading, kneading-trough, lab, mislie, out, pearl, Pilate, piping, shelf, slumber, swive, tub, very, vere, watchet

The Reeve's Tale[]

The Reeve's Tale is about two clerks tricking a miller. This tale is possibly based on Boccaccio's sixth story of the ninth day (IX.6) in The Decameron.

bodkin, bolt, chime, derere, easement, grass time, halfway, jossa, messuage, mullock, popper, quack, sack, Sheffield, thick and thin, varnish

The Cook's Tale[]

The Cook's Tale is a tale of an apprentice named Perkins who is fond of drinking and dancing. He ultimately is released from his master and moves in with a friend. This friend's wife is a prostitute. The story becomes more 'seedy', continuing the downward trend of the preceding tales.

bribe, convertible, galliard, Harry, Hodge, louke, prenticehood

The Man of Law's Tale[]

The Man of Law's Tale is a story about a Christian princess named Constance. She is to marry a Syrian sultan on condition that he convert to Christianity. His mother gets involved and sets her adrift at sea.

constabless, crone, dilatation, erect, femininity, feminity, man of law, mortally, motive, muse, peace, seriously, victorious, wrack

The Wife of Bath's Tale[]

The Wife of Bath's Tale is a tale about marriage. Scholars have associated this story as one of the so-called "marriage group" of Chaucer tales.

annex, ascendant, ba, bum, bumble, caterwaul, chose, disfigure, Ecclesiast, inclination, lure, Martian, peace, preamble, preambulation, resemblance, reveller, sip, spaniel, squire, stubborn, taur, vacation

The Friar's Tale[]

The Friar's Tale is a satirical attack on the profession of summoner.

approver, bribe, bribery, determinate, flattering, foal, rebeck

The Summoner's Tale[]

The Summoner's Tale is a tale in defense of the satirical attack by the Friar.

acceptable, chirt, dagon, demoniac, demonstrative, Dives, equally, pismire, reverberation, spence, swarm, tip, trip

The Clerk's Tale[]

The Clerk's Tale is the story of Griselda, a young woman whose husband tests her loyalty.

amble, archwife, Chichevache, constant, dishonest, frowning, gaze, laureate, marquisess, mazedness, proem

The Merchant's Tale[]

The Merchant's Tale reflects Boccaccio's Decameron seventh day in his ninth tale. Chaucer's tale is a sexually explicit story.

a-noon, arc, bedstraw, brotelness, court-man, crake, hippocras, houndfish, ordinate, preen, Priapus, procreation, skink, sole, struggle, superlative, veal, vernage, visage

The Squire's Tale[]

The Squire's Tale is a tale of the Squire, who is the Knight's son. The tale is an epic romance about a novice warrior and lover with more enthusiasm than experience. It is quite explicit and descriptive.

albe, digestion, exaltation, feastly, heronsew, Pegasus, peregrine, plumage, poleyn, prolixity, prospection, prospective, resound, serve, Tartar, Tatar, trench, trill

The Franklin's Tale[]

The Franklin's Tale focuses on issues of providence, truth, and generosity. A franklin was a medieval landowner.

alnath, Armorica, arrayed, begged, begeth, collect, considering, declination, desk, equation, expanse, falconer, faring, Nowell, opposition, Parnassus, proportional, rigour, superstitious

The Physician's Tale[]

The Physician's Tale is a domestic drama about the relationship between a daughter and her father.

award, definitive, notable, vicar general

The Pardoner's Tale[]

The Pardoner's Tale is a tale in the form of a moral example.

bet, cinque, cinq, clink, corny, corpus, domination, envelop, fen, Galianes, policy, rioter, saffron, sane, village

The Shipman's Tale[]

The Shipman's Tale is similar to some of Boccaccio's stories in his Decameron and tells the story of a stingy merchant, his greedy wife and her lover.

creance, porteous, score

The Prioress's Tale[]

The Prioress's Tale story is of a child martyr killed by Jews.

outcry, sold

The Tale of Sir Thopas[]

The Tale of Sir Thopas is told by the narrator of the frame story of the Tales, presented unflatteringly as an awkward, reserved person. It is a parody of grandiose Gallic romances. The narrator is interrupted by the Host before the story is finished.

amble, piercing, poppet

The Tale of Melibee[]

The Tale of Melibee, told by the narrator of the frame story, consists largely of a debate between Melibee and his wife on how to seek redress for a violent crime.

accidental, accomplish, annoyful, anoyful, arbitration, blameful, brigue, chincher, chinchery, commit, counterwait, damnably, desiring, edifice, especial, estable, examination, examining, formal, garnison, hotchpotch, information, mishappy, persevere, pertinent, retain, withholding

The Monk's Tale[]

The Monk's Tale is a collection of seventeen short stories on the theme of tragedy. These are of Lucifer, Adam, Samson, Hercules, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Zenobia, Pedro of Castile, Peter I of Cyprus, Bernabò Visconti, Ugolino of Pisa, Nero, Holofernes, Antiochus, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Croesus. The Monk's Tale De Casibus Virorum Illustrium of these illustrious men^{[clarification needed]} is modeled after Boccaccio's De Casibus Virorum Illustrium of illustrious men.

afear, annunciate, appurtenant, armless, centaur, Cerberus, clubbed, consecrate, conspiracy, contributary, cursedly, customance, custumance, hexameter, humblehede, importable, leonine, lim-rod, misery, misgovernance, monster, morality, Occident, orient, officer, Persian, pompous, precept, proverb, Septentrion, size, sperm

The Nun's Priest's Tale[]

The Nun's Priest's Tale of the Cock and the Hen, Chanticleer and Partlet is a vigorous and comical beast fable and mock epic poem.

aha, apoplexy, catapuce, centaury, cholera, chuck, clinking, cottage, digestive, embattled, fortunate, fumitory, herb Ive, jade, jet, laureole, poop, reverse, tame, tiptoe

The Second Nun's Tale[]

The Second Nun's Tale tells the story of Saint Cecilia.

chasteness, eternal, noble, oppose, oppress, outer, preface, prefect, proceed, rote, soul, trine

The Canon's Yeoman's Tale[]

The Canon's Yeoman's Tale is an attack on alchemists.

ablution, amalgam, ammoniac, argol, arsenic, blunder, bole, calcination, calcining, cered, chalk-stone, citrination, clergial, coagulate, corrosive, crude, cucurbit, elixir, fermentation, fusible, gris, hayne, hazelwood, induration, ingot, introduction, lamp, luna, lunary, magnesia, malleable, mollification, orpiment, pellitory, porphyry, proffered, prowl, rap, rehearsal, relent, rosary, sal, sluttish, sol, sublime, sublimed, tartar, test, vitriol

The Manciple's Tale[]

The Manciple's Tale is a story of a purchasing agent for a law court telling a fable about Phoebus Apollo and his pet crow.

affect, bottle, cock, nod, palled, python, rackleness, textual, titleless

The Book of the Duchess[]

The Book of the Duchess is a poem on the death of Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster and the first wife of John of Gaunt.

aside, bagge, bear

The Parson's Tale[]

The Parson's Tale is a prose treatise on virtuous living.

annoyance, appertain, ardour, ardor, arrogant, barring, bending, castle, closure, clotheless, consideration, contract, contumacy, create, curiousness, cutted, dedicate, departed, dishonesty, durable, elation, embracing, emprise, eschew, furring, gabber, hernia, homicide, homily, hostler, humiliation, impudent, manslaughter, material, mistrest, mortification, mystery, natural law, nigromancian, observe, ordure, ours, paling, parting, pax, perdurable, performing, platly, pounced, pouncing, raffle, replenish, retraction, slumbery, somnolence, springer, sticking, strangeness, sustenant, talker, thunderclap, total, trey, uncharitably

Parlement of Foules[]

The Parliament of Fowls is a love poem associated with Valentine's Day. Many claim Chaucer is the mythmaker of the concept as we know it today.^[16]

abstinent, bedside, blossomed, cackling, Cupid, disfigurate, dishevel, disobeisant, entitle, facund, formel, formal, horologe, messagery, mirthless, tercel, tiercel, tercelet, tiercelet, uncommitted, untressed, valence, Valentine, west

The Romaunt of the Rose[]

The Romaunt of the Rose is an allegorical dream, in which the narrator receives advice from the god of love on gaining his lady's favor, her love being symbolized by a rose.

absent, communably, forwelk, fresh, fur, galantine, guerdon, habit, householding, jacounce, jagounce, jargon, jocund, lambskin, lightsome, lozenge, mansuete, masonry, mavis, medlar, mendicity, mendience, miscoveting, misway, mourning black, muid, nock, non-certain, obscure, overgilt, outwine, outstretch, outsling, palasin, papelardy, par coeur, parochial, patter, praise, prill, prime temps, Proteus, quail-pipe, racine, ravisable, recreandise, refraining, reft, resemblable, return, reverie, ribanding, rideled, riverside, roin, roinous, rose-leaf, sailour, Sarsenish, satin, savorous, scutcheon, seemlihead, shutting, slitter, smallish, snort, squirrel, suckeny, tassel, terin, thick-set, thread, timbester, tissue, tress, tretis, villainsly, volage, waterside, well-arrayed, well begone, well beseen, well-fed, wyndre

The House of Fame[]

The House of Fame is a love poem based on works by Ovid and Virgil. The allegorical poem consists of a dream that journeys to two temples, The House of Fame and The House of Rumour which are various aspects of truth and falsehood.

accustomance, check, act, agreeable, airish, appearance, arrivage, arrival, assail, babery, blaze, burned, cadence, casually, celestial, clarion, congealed, conservative, corbet, cornemuse, covercle, crowding, dear-bought, desesperat, dissimulation, doucet, dowset, ducat, duration, encumbrous, existence, feminine, fouldre, fumigation, galaxy, gig, greenish, harmony, Hebraic, herald, herd-groom, herewithal, humble, inclined, inclining, intermeddle, lee, lilting, masty, Milky Way, minstrelly, misgovernment, ray, renovelance, rumble, scissors, signal, spring, stellify, sorceress, sweynt, syllable, tewel, tuel, tinned, unshut, upper

Boece[]

Boece is Chaucer's work derived from The Consolation of Philosophy, a Latin work originally written by the Roman Christian philosopher Boethius around AD 524.

abashing, accordable, add, address, adjection, adjoust, adjudge, administer, admonishing, admonition, agreeability, agreeably, albeit, alien, all-utterly, amenuse, amenusing, amoved, annoying, annoyously, anointed, arbitry, Arcturus, ardent, armourer, asperness, assigned, astoning, attaste, attemper, attemperance, attention, auster, autumn, awaiter, beholder, bespot, betiding, biting, blandishing, blissfulness, border, byname, Caurus, cavern, celebrable, centre, center, coemption, coetern, commonality, commove, complish, compotent, compound, comprend, compress, conject, conjoin, conjunction, conjuration, consequent, conservation, consular, contagious, continuation, contrary, convenient, corollary, corrige, Corybant, credible, declaring, decreet, defeat, definish, delicate, delie, delye, deluge, demonstration, despoiling, destinable, destinal, differing, disarm, discording, discourse, disincrease, disordinance, dispensation, dispense, dissolve, distempre, distrait, divide, divination, division, dull, durability, during, eager, echinus, egality, empoisoning, emprent, enbaissing, enchafe, enchantress, encharge, endamage, endark, enduring, enhance, enlace, ensampler, entach, entech, entalent, environing, eschaufe, establish, estimation, eternity, everyday, eve-star, evidently, exceed, exempt, exerce, exercitation, exiling, fellness, fellowship, felonous, festivally, fleeing, flitting, fluttering, foleye, forline, formly, fortuit, fortunel, fortunous, frounce, furthest, gaping, gastness, geometrian, ginner, gizzard, glaring, glow, governail, guerdon, guideress, habitacule, habitation, harmfully, henter, Hesperus, hider, honeyed, honied, hustlement, hydra, ignorant, imaginable, immovability, immovable, impair, imperial, impetre, imply, imposition, imprint, inconvenient, indifferently, indignation, inestimable, infect, infinity, infirm, inhabit, interchanging, intercommuning, interlace, interminable, jangling, jaw, jointure, knower, lash, leecher, lost, luxure, manifest, Marmaric, marvelling, marveling, meanly, misdrawing, misknowing, miswandering, movability, mowing, mutable, necess, nilling, orphelin, overlight, over-swift, overthrowing, overwhelve, perdurability, plungy, poetical, porism, portionable, presentary, previdence, pronouncer, proportionable, purveyable, reasoning, reddy, redoubt, reduce, remount, rending, replenished, replication, requirable, resist, resolve, resounding, resounding, rhetorian, roil, roundness, rower, rumour, sarplier, scaping, scorkle, semblable, senatory, sensibility, sensible, shadowy, showing, similitude, simplicity, singler, Sirius, skilling, slaked, slead, smoking, smoothness, stadie, starlight, starry, speculation, Stoician, suasion, submit, summit, superfice, supply, sway, sweller, tempest, theatre, theater, thenceforth, thunderer, thunderlight, tragedian, tragedy, tranquillity, transport, troublabla, tumbling, twitter, two-footed, unagreeable, unassayed, unbetide, unbowed, uncovenable, undepartable, undiscomfited, undoubtous, uneschewable, unexercised, ungentle, unhoped, universal, universality, unleeful, unmovablety, unparegal, unperegal, unpiteous, unpiteous, unplight, unplite, unraced, unscience, unsolemn, unstanchable, unstanched, untreatable, unusage, unweened, unwit, unworshipful, unwrap, upheaping, used, variant, vengeress, voluntarily, weening, weeply, withinforth, witnessfully, wood

Anelida and Arcite[]

Anelida and Arcite is a retelling of an old Roman story previously written by Boccaccio.

assure, awaiting, causeless, chair, chantepleure, crampish, crookedly, desolate, doubleness, ecliptic, excuse, lowly, sound, subtile, Theban, whaped, unfeigned, whaped, womanhead

Troilus and Criseyde[]

Troilus and Criseyde is a story from Boccaccio's Il Filostrato.

abetting, abusion, accident, accord, accusement, adieu, adorn, adverse, advertence, advocary, a-game, agree, alembic, aloud, alter, ambassador, appoint, argument, alite, ambage, amphilbology, argument, Aries, a-root, asfast, askance, asper, aspre, astrologer, atrede, attendance, attrition, atwixt, audience, augury, avaunter, await, bawdry, bay, beblot, befalling, benignity, bestiality, betrend, beware, blossomy, bounteous, burn, bypath, calculing, captive, casual, childishly, chittering, circle, circumscrive, collateral, combust, comedy, complain, complete, conceit, concord, conserve, consolation, constraint, continuance, convers, counterpoise, cramp, crow's foot, cumber-world, curation, dart, defeit, defet, define, deliber, deliberation, derring do, desespeir, desesperance, desesperaunce, determine, digression, direct, disadvance, disadventure, disblame, disconsolate, discordable, discordant, disdainous, disjoint, dispone, disport, disposition, disseverance, dissimule, distil, distill, disturn, divineress, dulcarnon, embassador, enchant, enterpart, entune, erratic, estately, estrange, exchange, excusable, execute, executrice, expert, eyed, faithed, farewell, fatal, fate, faun, feasting, fervently, fetching, finally, firmly, fix, forbysen, forlose, forpass, fury, future, gaure, goodlihead, good night, goosish, governance, graceless, groof, grufe, guide, half-god, hardiment, hawking, heinous, hemisphere, herdess, heroner, hollowness, homecoming, horizon, howne, humbly, hust, immortal, impression, increase, in-eche, infernal, influence, infortune, inhelde, inhielde, injure, inknit, intendment, interchange, intercommune, janglery, jeopard, Jove, jumper, just, kankedort, knotless, let-game, lethargy, liberty, lign-aloes, loadstar, lodestar, martial, mask, melodious, misaccount, misconstrue, misforgive, mislived, mismeter, molest, muck, mucker, munch, mutability, natal, native, new, nouriture, occidental, oriental, ounded, outring, overcarve, over-haste, over-rede, palaceward, palaceward, palaestrial, parody, peoplish, philosophical, phrenetic, plumb rule, pole arctic, predestiny, pregnant, Progne, proverb, qualm, racket, rackle, railed, refigure, refrain, refreid, reheting, reprehension, repression, resistence, resort, resport, return, revoke, Robin, rootless, rosy, royal, ruin, safeguard, saluing, sand, satyr, scrivenliche, secondly, sentiment, shapely, signifer, sling-stone, slink, sliver, snowish, soar, sob, space, strangely, subtilty, sugared, sunnish, surplus, supprise, teary, tempestous, testy, thriftily, thrifty, trance, transitory, transmew, trapdoor, tremor, unapt, unbody, unbridled, unbroided, uncircumscript, undeserved, unespied, unfeelingly, unhappily, universe, unkissed, unlikeliness, unlove, unmanhood, unnest, unprayed, unsheathe, unsitting, unswell, unthrifty, untied, untormented, untroth, unwist, urn, vapour, verre, vetch, virtueless, voidee, voluptuous, vulgarly, vulture, wantrust, weak, well-shapen, well-willy, wester, wieldy, womanhood, womanish, wrongfully, yfled, yold, yolden

The Legend of Good Women[]

The Legend of Good Women is a dream vision love poem.

accompass, adulation, agrote, angel-like, angrily, appete, appetite, arguing, bedote, bench, betraising, bleeding, box, bridled, browd, clift, complaining, countryward, crinkled, distain, during, emboss, ensure, eternally, everything, famous, father-in-law, felicity, figuring, fingering, fleuron, forgiving, foundation, fret, gledy, graciousness, imagining, infinite, joining, knightly, lure, Mantuan, paper-white, penful, presenting, radevore, reclaiming, renownee, ruled, seemliness, skirmishing, stately, storial, subtilly, subtilely, tidife, tidive, tuteler, toteler, virelay, well, wifehood

Treatise on the Astrolabe[]

Treatise on the Astrolabe is Chaucer's scientific paper of clearer definitions on how to use the astrolabe, an astronomical instrument.

adding, aline, almanac, almucantar, almury, altitude, Arabic, Arctic, arm-hole, Arsechieles tables, azimuth, calculer, Capricorn, coldness, compilator, concentric, couching, crepuscule, cross-line, denticle, depression, descension, direct, distant, elevate, elevation, elongation, embelif, epicycle, equal, equator, equinox, fraction, Gemini, gerful, Greek, half-ebb, hence-forthward, indeterminate, intercept, introductory, latitude, line-right, longitude, lop-web, meridian, perpendicular, possibly, precedent, rete, retrograde, right angle, scale, Scorpio, second, septentrional, site, solid, solsticion, succedent, Taurus, tortuous, tropic, unstrange, usward, utility, vulgar

Miscellaneous poems[]

Below are words first attested to in his miscellaneous poems, namely:

• An ABC
• Balade to Rosemounde
• Chaucers Wordes unto Adam, His Owne Scriveyn
• Complaint to His Lady
• Fortune
• Gentilesse
• Lak of Stedfastnesse
• Lenvoy de Chaucer a Scogan
• Lenvoy de Chaucer a Bukton
• Proverbs
• The Complaint unto Pity
• The Complaint of Chaucer to his Purse
• The Complaint of Mars
• The Complaint of Venus
• The Former Age
• The Truth
• Womanly Noblesse

accumbrous, advocatrice, ancille, artillery, aspen, benevolence, besprent, blaspheme, blasphemer, cannel-bone, carrack, carack, cart-wheel, castigation, causer, collusion, comeliness, complaint, confeder, convict, coverter, craze, create, dapple-grey, delicacy, desespeire, desperation, distrouble, down, dullness, dulness, emboss, enfortune, enlumine, entune, envoy, envy, errant, eterne, fattish, fawn, feigned, fers, fickleness, fleshy, flute, forloin, fortune, fortuned, furious, gere, glazing, half-word, hearse, Hercules, humblesse, inconstance, interess, jane, knack, lake, lambish, lancegay, leer, likeliness, limer, litster, lustihead, meet, midpoint, overstrew, prose, rechase, resign, royalty, scant, seeming, solein, solitude, sore, sough, sturdily, suffisance, suing, surmount, sweaty, tall, Tantalus, tapet, Tartary, tickleness, tongued, traitress, traitoress, Turkey, tyranny, uncorven, uncoupling, unforged, ungrubbed, unsown, weld, well-faring, well-founded, whirling, wildly, wildness

Usages[]

Below are some of the words first found in Chaucer's manuscripts that we use today and how they were used in his poems in the 14th century.

Word	Middle English usage	Modern English usage	Poem and estimated year it was published
annoyance	Suffrance suffreth swetely alle the anoyaunces	Tolerance suffers sweetly all the annoyances	The Parson's Tale, c. 1386[20]
approach	whan she approched to jhesu Crist	when she approached Jesus Christ	The Parson's Tale, c. 1386[20]
aspect	Som wikke aspect or disposicioun	Some wicked disposition or aspect	The Knight's Tale, c. 1385[20]
begger	And been a beggere; heere may I nat dwelle	And be a beggar; here I cannot dwell	The Franklin's Tale, c. 1386[20]
cense	Gooth with a sencer on the haliday	Went with a censer on the holy day	The Miller's Tale, c. 1386[20]
centaur	He of Centaures layde the boast adoun	Of centaurs laid he all the boastings down	The Monk's Tale, c. 1375[20]
chose	For if I wolde selle my bele chose	For if I would go peddle my belle chose	Wife of Bath's Tale, c. 1386[20]
cinnamon	My faire bryd, my sweete cynamome?	My cinnamon, my fair bird, my sweetie	The Miller's Tale, c. 1386[20]
citrine	His nose was heigh, his eyen bright citryn	His nose was high, his eyes a bright citrine	The Knight's Tale, c. 1386[20]
consecrate	And was to God Almighty consecrate	And was to God Almighty consecrated	The Monk's Tale, c. 1375[20]
consideration	Heere bihoveth the consideracioun of the grace Of jhesu crist	here it behooves one to give consideration to the grace of Jesus Christ	The Parson's Tale, c. 1386[20]
conspiracy	Ful privily hath made conspiracie Against this Julius	Full secretly did lay conspiracy Against this Julius	The Monk's Tale, c. 1386[20]
contract	whan the soule is put in oure body, Right anon is contract original synne	when the soul is put into a body, immediately is contracted original sin	The Parson's Tale, c. 1386[20]
create	And Al be it so that God hath creat alle thynges In right ordre	And though it be that God has created all things in right order	The Parson's Tale, c. 1386[20]
depart	Shal nat departe from his hous	Will not depart from his house	The Parson's Tale, c. 1386[20]
derive	That every part dirryveth from his hool	That every part derives but from the whole	The Knight's Tale, c. 1385[20]
desk	Hadde prively upon his desk ylaft	Which book he'd privately on his desk left	The Franklin's Tale, c. 1386[20]
digestion	The norice of digestioun, the sleep	The nurse of good digestion, natural sleep	The Squire's Tale, c. 1395[20]
disfigure	She sholde tellen of his disfigure.	She'd tell of his disfigurement impure.	Wife of Bath's Tale, c. 1386[20]
dismembering	ne swereth nat so synfully in dismembrynge of crist by soule	swear not so sinfully, thus dismembering Christ by soul	The Parson's Tale, c. 1386[20]
displeasant	Moost displesant to crist, and moost adversarie.	this sin is most displeasing to Christ, and most hateful.	The Parson's Tale, c. 1386[20]
double-tongue	Now comth the synne of double-tonge	Now comes the sin of the double-tongued	The Parson's Tale, c. 1386[20]
durable	Remoeven harmes and to han thynges espiritueel and durable	removal of evils and to obtain things spiritual and durable	The Parson's Tale, c. 1386[20]
exaltation	For he was neigh his exaltacioun	For he was near his exaltation	The Squire's Tale, c. 1386[20]
execute	That executeth in the world over al	That executes in this world, and for all	The Knight's Tale, c. 1385[20]
fart	Of fartyng, and of speche daungerous.	Of farting and of language haughtyish.	The Miller's Tale, c. 1386[20]
feast	He leet the feeste of his nativitee	He let the feast of his nativity	The Squire's Tale, c. 1386[20]
femininity	How wonnen was the regne of femenye	Was gained the realm of Femininity	The Knight's Tale, c. 1385[20]
forge	That in his forge smythed plough harneys	Who in his forge smithed plow parts	The Miller's Tale, c. 1386[20]
funeral	Putte in the fyr of funeral servyse	Lighted the sacred funeral fire	The Knight's Tale, c. 1385[20]
galaxy	See yonder, lo, the galaxyë	lo, see yonder the galaxy	The House of Fame, c. 1380[21]
hexameter	Of sixe feet, which men clepe examétron	In six feet, which men call hexameter	The Monk's Tale, c. 1375[20]
homicide	Of worldly shame? certes, an horrible homicide.	Certainly, such a one is called a horrible homicide.	The Parson's Tale, c. 1386[20]
howl	Shrighte emelye, and howleth palamon	Shrieked Emily and howled now Palamon	The Knight's Tale, c. 1386[20]
humiliation	Nat sory of his humiliacioun.	not sorry for his humiliation.	The Parson's Tale, c. 1386[20]
huntress	With bowe in honde, right as an hunteresse	With bow in hand, like any right huntress	The Knight's Tale, c. 1385[20]
kneading	He hadde yboght hym knedyng tubbes thre	Procured these kneading-tubs, or beer-vats, three	The Miller's Tale, c. 1386[20]
laborious	And myn office is ful laborous	My job is most laborious	The Friar's Tale, c. 1386[20]
laureate	Fraunceys petrak, the lauriat poete	Francis Petrarch, the laureate poet	The Clerk's Tale, c. 1386[20]
laxative	Vomyt upward, ne dounward laxatif.	By vomiting or taking laxative	The Knight's Tale, c. 1385[20]
lure	With empty hand men may none haukes lure.	With empty hand men may no falcons lure	Wife of Bath's Tale, c. 1386[20]
magician	In al the lond magicien was ther non	In all that land magician was there none	The Monk's Tale, c. 1375[20]
menacing	By manasynge of mars, right by figure.	The menacing of Mars, in likeness sure	The Knight's Tale, c. 1385[20]
mercenary	He was a shepherde and noght a mercenarie.	He was a shepherd and not mercenary.	General Prologue, c. 1387[21]
Milky Way	Which men clepeth the Milky Wey	which men call the Milky Way	The House of Fame, c. 1384[21]
muzzle	And folwed hym with mosel faste ybounde	And so they followed him, with muzzles bound	The Knight's Tale, c. 1385[20]
noble	And saluces this noble contree highte.	Saluzzo is this noble region bright.	The Clerk's Tale, c. 1395[20]
nymph	The nymphs, the fauns, the hamadryades	The nymphs, the fauns, the hamadryades	The Knight's Tale, c. 1385[20]
observe	Jhesu Crist and his freendes observede to shewen in hir lyve.	Jesus Christ and His friends observed in their lives.	The Parson's Tale, c. 1386[20]
outrageous	outrageous wratthe dooth al that evere the devel hym comaundeth	outrageous wrath does all that the Devil orders	The Parson's Tale, c. 1386[20]
Persian	and it shal be To Meedes and to Perses geven	and it shall be To Medes and Persians given now	The Monk's Tale, c. 1375[20]
philosophical	To the and to the, philosophical Strode	and to you, philosophical Strode	Troilus and Criseyde, c. 1374[21]
plumage	As wel of plumage as of gentillesse	As well of plumage as of nobleness	The Squire's Tale, c. 1395[20]
princess	Though that she were a queene or a princesse	Although she be a queen or a princess	The Knight's Tale, c. 1385[20]
resound	That all the wode resouned of hire cry.	rill all the wood resounded mournfully.	The Squire's Tale, c. 1395[20]
scissors	Withoute rasour or sisoures	not the kind with razor or scissors	The House of Fame, c. 1384[20]
session	At sessiouns ther was he lord and sire	At county sessions was he lord and sire	Canterbury Prologue, c. 1386[21]
soar	I woot wel, for to sore As doth an hauk	I have no cause to soar like a hawk	Troilus and Criseyde, c. 1374[21]
superlative	Ther nys no thyng in gree superlatyf	There is no pleasure so superlative	The Merchant's Tale, c. 1386[20]
superstitious	Of swich a supersticiuos cursednesse.	Of such a superstitious wickedness.	The Franklin's Tale, c. 1386[20]
thick and thin	thurgh thikke and thurgh thenne.	through thick and thin.	The Reeve's Tale, c. 1386[20]
vacation	Whan he hadde leyser and vacacioun	When he had leisure and took some vacation	Wife of Bath's Tale, c. 1386[20]
wallet	His walet lay biforn hym in his lappe	His wallet lay before him in his lap	Canterbury Prologue, c. 1387[20]

See also[]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Author:Geoffrey Chaucer

Wikisource has original text related to this article: A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Chaucer, Geoffrey

• Vernacular
• Middle English
• English literature
• Medieval literature
• Middle English literature
• Dictionary of Old English
• Middle English Dictionary
• Oxford English Dictionary
• Shakespeare's influence: Vocabulary
• Signor–Lipps effect in archaeology

Footnotes[]

References[]

• Baugh, Albert Croll, A History of the English Language, Prentice-Hall 1978, London. ISBN 0-13-389239-5.
• Brown, Peter, A companion to Chaucer, Wiley-Blackwell, 2002. ISBN 0-631-23590-6.
• Burnley, David, A guide to Chaucer's language, Macmillan, 1983. ISBN 0-333-33532-5.
• Cannon, Christopher, The making of Chaucer's English: a study of words, Cambridge UP, 1998. ISBN 0-521-59274-7.
• Chaucer, Geoffrey, The works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Macmillan, 1898.
• Chaucer, Geoffrey, The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer: The house of fame, The legend of good women , Editor: Walter William Skeat. Clarendon, 1894.
• Cousin, John W., A short biographical dictionary of English literature, Babylon Dreams, 1910. ISBN 1-60303-696-2.
• Davis, Norman, A Chaucer Glossary, Clarendon, 1979. ISBN 0-19-811171-1.
• Elliott, Ralph Warren Victor, Chaucer's English, Deutsch, 1974. ISBN 0-233-96539-4.
• Fisher, John H., The emergence of standard English, UP of Kentucky, 1996. ISBN 0-8131-0852-7.
• Gardner, John, Life and Times of Chaucer, Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0-7607-1281-6.
• Gosse, Edmund, English literature : an illustrated record , Heinemann, 1906.
• Horobin, Simon, Chaucer's language, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. ISBN 1-4039-9356-4.
• Langer, William Leonard, An encyclopedia of world history, ancient, medieval and modern ..., Volume 1, Houghton Mifflin, 1948.
• Phelan, Walter S., The Study of Chaucer's Vocabulary, Computers and the Humanities, Vol. 12, No. 1/2, Medieval Studies and the Computer, 1978.
• Stearns, Peter N., The Encyclopedia of world history: ancient, medieval, and modern , Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001. ISBN 0-395-65237-5.
• Tatlock, John S. P., The Development and Chronology of Chaucer's Works, BiblioBazaar, 2009. ISBN 1-110-65731-5.
• Simpson, J. A., Weiner, E. S. C., The Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, Oxford UP, 1989, Reprinted 1991. ISBN 0-19-861186-2.
• Wallace, David, Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron, Cambridge UP, 1991. ISBN 0-521-38851-1.

External links[]

• A Glossary for the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer