* 



312 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE LANGUAGE OF GOWER'S CONFESSIO AMANTIS. 



* 





served by Grower : that is to say, it is not his 

 custom io use yea and nay exclusively in answer 

 to affirmative questions, and yes and no in an- 

 swer to negative questions : 



hast thou ben ? ye, ii. 20 : hast thou nought ? 



ye, i. 60. 

 he saide nay, they saiden yis, i. 201. 

 I trowe yis : my fader, nay> i, 308. 

 if it be so, tell me : no, iii. 24. 



tell me, if thou hast : nay, ii. 275, 349 : iii. 

 281. 



if there be ought, axeth : yis, iii, 274. 



axeth him, if that this child(e) his sone 



were . 



ye, i. 206. 



§ 109. Certain Peculiar Words and Phrases. 



Adjectives used like nouns : 



these other grete, i. 155 : a sinful, ii. 118. 

 this envious, i. 171 : the jelous (sing.), ii. 145. 

 he by worthy and by wise was counselled, ii. 

 196. 



to which no pouer may atteigne, iii. 22. 



this pouer, iii. 35 : the rich[e] (sing.), iii. 37 . 



there is no certain for to winne (?), iii. 134, 





350. 



') 



ift, 



of 



ift, 





at min (thin, her) above : 



as though I were at min ubove, iii. 9. 

 ne though she were at her above, ii. 212. 

 and how they were at her above, ii. 378. 

 thou might not come at thin above 

 of that thou woldest wel acheve, ii. 32. 



This singular phrase seems to signify, in the 

 first two instances, greater than 



I 



(she 



is) at present; in the third, perhaps, they bore 

 themselves as if superior to what they really were ; 



meanin 



thyself master of what thou wouldst achieve. 



can thonk 



• 



scire gratias, i. 193, 1. 17. 



d 



o 



cause, make : 



and 



and 







that couthen do the mone clipse, iii. 362. 

 I do the to wite, iii. 373. 

 So, with the addition of let, 

 he let do yoken grete foxes, ii. 63, 208. 

 let do writen, i. 191. 



gan, as auxiliary to form an imperfect tense : 



she gan falle, ii. 381, 385, etc. 

 gesse, in the New England sense of think : 



there hath be no default, I gesse, ii. 11, 59, 368 



go 



iii. 180. 



walk, like German gehen : 



the dede man, which nouther go ne speke can, 

 iii. 3, 5, etc. 



hadde lever : I hadde lever to be lewed, i. 295 \ 

 ii. 211. I hadde le\ev=zf aimer ais mieux, 

 hadde being of course in the subjunctive. Germ. 

 lieb haben, to like, is much the same. Alle women 

 levest wolde be occurs i. 96 : lever she wolde 

 have wist, ii. 46 : her were levest have, i. 96. 

 I wolde rather, ii. 94, ss I would sooner. / had 

 rather seems to be an imitation of / had lever ; 

 when the phrase came into use is not known to 



me. 



life 



being, person : 



*i 



m 



town, 



lift 



lives creature = living creature, ii. 14, as in 



Cant. Tales, 2397, 8779. 

 many on(e) ~ many a one, i. 56 (deceived were) : ii. 



313. 



moon, masculine as in Saxon : 



the mone of silver has his part, ii. 84 : iii. 109. 

 But, ne yet the mone that she carie, ii. 112. 

 go tak(e) the mone ther it sit, i. 86. 



much, in the sense oi great : 



and for to give a more feith, iii, 326. 



which was to her a more delit, iii. 335. 



the moste joy, iii. 8 : my moste care, iii. 254. 



past participles in an adverbial sense, like Ger. 

 er kommt geritten : 



ride amaied, for ride a-maying, i. 110, 



