Jazz Up Your Lesson
OLD ENGLISH
Here you can enjoy one more set of Old English words. And they are arranged so that you can play a matching game with your students! This guessing game can be played both individually or in small groups of 2–3 students.
| 1. Strigil | a. This word was derived from the Anglo-Saxon word “besema” that literally meant “a bundle of twigs” and later became “a broomstick”. A medieval couple was considered legally married if they jumped over that broomstick placed on their door step – a custom that survived into modern times as the ritual of carrying the bride across the threshold. Divorce could occur just as easily if one member of the couple replaced the broom and jumped back. |
| 2. Cachpule | b. These are the stilts (ходули) worn in the early 16th to the 19th centuries when walking in filthy places. Without them one might have sunk down in deep mud. This word was derived from the Greek word “scatology” and has transformed in modern English into the well-known word “skates”. |
| 3. Fancymonger | c. This was a reinforced wooden chest, sometimes decorated with inlaid ivory or jewels, which in medieval times contained precious writing materials and other valuables, such as sacred relics. People used to preserve in these boxes such odd things as gallons of dried holy blood of saints, portions of their preserved bodies, pounds of Crucifixion nails and even “the tip of Lucifer’s tail”. This word was replaced with the word “shrine” (гробница, усыпальница) in the 17th century. |
| 4. Mortmain | d. This was an ancient Roman instrument used to scrape perspiration and dirt from an athlete’s body after exercise. This often replaced soap and water. Its descendant (потомок; производное), the Old French word “estrille” referred to a comb, which grooms still use to clean horses. The modern word “astringent”, a substance that draws a wound together, was formed from the same Latin root. |
| 5. Scatches | e. This word was used through the 16th century to denote tennis or a tennis court. This forerunner of European racket sports originated in France a millennium ago, although rackets were not used until the 1500s, about the time when the English adopted the game. Their first courts were like enormous squash courts, patterned after those in French monasteries. The word “tennis” may have come from “Tenez”, which means “Take this!” in French. Tennis was eventually outlawed (объявлять незаконным, запрещать) because of the interest it evoked. |
| 6. Scrynne | f. A person, man or woman, who in the 17th and the 18th centuries used clever tricks to deceive others, often for financial gain. One of their favourite theatrics was called “wolf in the breast”. This was a highly imaginative game, usually practiced by women with considerable acting talent. They tried to convince passersby that a small wolf was gnawing (eating) their breast from the inside and they asked for donations to help ease her last days of life. |
| 7. Besom | g. Literally it means a “dead hand”. This word is derived from Latin through French and it meant “to give property to an organisation, such as a guild (гильдия, цех) or a fraternity (братство, община), that will hold it in perpetuity (бесконечность, вечность)”. |
Key: 1. d; 2. e; 3. f; 4. g; 5. b; 6. c; 7. a
| 1. Scaramouch | a. One who shaved or otherwise cut hair. Before A.D. 1000, barbers visited monasteries to cut the hair of monks according to each order’s tonsure or hair pattern. |
| 2. Bankrupture | b. Originally a 17th century charlatan’s sidekick (the best friend) who, in full view of a crowd, would pretend to eat a toad, which at that time was considered poisonous. This assistant would simulate a severe reaction, to the horror or amusement of the naïve spectators. Then the master would dramatically demonstrate the curative power of the remedy he had for sale by using it to revive his friend. The corresponding verb that appeared shortly after meant “to do something unpleasant on behalf of one’s master.” |
| 3. Tonsor | c. Term for dates established in Chaucer’s time for reconciling disputes by arbitration. These days were appointed for making a decision. |
| 4. Inkhornism | d. 18th century description of someone whose knees rubbed together when he or she walked, as if kneading dough. Bakers, once jocularly known as burn-crusts, were said to be especially vulnerable to knee problems, as their knees typically bent slightly backward because they stood while making bread. |
| 5. Lovedayes | e. From the 17th century, this term has indicated a lazy, swaggering coward. Based on a character from early Italian comedy that was often pummeled for his knavish actions, this word was a verb meaning to act in such a manner. Shakespeare used the expression “skirmish of wit” in 1599 to indicate verbal confrontation. |
| 6. Monks and friars | f. In the 16th and the 17th centuries it was a term for a prostitute bully who kept guards at taverns for her. Eve’s relationship with the apple may have influenced this expression. Another likely possibility is that the expression derives from apple-sellers who worked in the streets of London and sometimes acted as liaisons for prostitutes and their clients. The related expression “apple-wife” was a euphemism for a dishonored woman. |
| 7. Baker-knee’d | g. A variant of saying that someone has lost his money. An Italian moneylender of the 14th century would often work outdoors on a wooden bench called a bancas, which would be physically destroyed if the banker became insolvent. This term appeared in the Italian language, and then traveled to French and later to the English language. |
| 8. Toad-eater | h. In the 17th to the 19th centuries, this was the month of recovery for a woman after she gave birth to a child. |
| 9. Apple-squire | i. These words were used in the 18th century by printers to describe errors in their craft. The first word meant pages that contained smudged or blotted letters and the second word meant the letters that were deficient in ink and therefore too light. |
| 10. Gander-moon | j. A literary composition of the sixteenth century. The inspiration for this word was a small, portable case of writing instruments, first made of horn and used from 1300s to the 1700s. |
| 11. Gimlet-eyed | k. Vulgar 18th century expression for a drunkard’s nose, the redness of which was caused by dilation of the blood vessels from consumption of alcohol. Grog alone would mean “rum diluted with an equal part of water” and not served straight, as once was customary. This beverage was introduced first by admiral Edward Vernon, who offered it to his crew in an attempt to reduce on-board intoxication. But unfortunately this measure only made him unpopular among his people. |
| 12. Grog-blossom | l. An adjective for a sharp-sighted and inquisitive 19th century person, derived from a name of an old piercing tool |
Key: 1. e; 2. g; 3. a; 4. j; 5. c; 6. i; 7. d; 8. b; 9. f; 10. h; 11. l; 12. k