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Double-Entendres In 'The Canterbury Tales'
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Double-Entendres In 'The Canterbury Tales'
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This d issertation has b e e n
m icrofilm ed e x a c tly as r e c e iv e d 6 < '-10,773
SANDERS, Barry Roy, 1938-
DOUBLES-ENTENDRES IN THE CANTERBURY TALES.
U niversity of Southern C alifornia, Ph.D., 1967
Language and L ite r a tu r e , general
University M icro film s, Inc., A nn Arbor, Michigan
Copyright (c) by
BARRY ROY SANDERS
1967
DOUBLES-ENTENDRES IN
THE CANTERBURY TALES
by
Barry Roy Sanders
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(English)
June 1967
UNIVERSITY O F S O U T H E R N CALIFORNIA
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY PARK
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 9 0 0 0 7
This dissertation, written by
............................B arxy..B oy--S.and.e.rs..........................
under the direction of //ia....Dissertation Com
mittee, and approved by all its members, has
been presented to and accepted by the Graduate
School, in partial fulfillment of requirements
for the degree of
D O C T O R OF P H I L O S O P H Y
.....
Dean
D ate......June.,... 1.9.6.7..
DISSFR'I'ATIOX COMMITTEE
y ’ . . . * f i .... .4. L :
, / Chairm an
/
\ a) L\ \ ' i U»r\ \\ '
i- ■
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION ............................................. 1
Chapter
I. FRAGMENT I (GROUP A) ......................... 12
"The General Prologue"
"The Knight's Tale"
"The Miller's Prologue"
"The Miller's Tale"
"The Reeve's Prologue"
"The Reeve's Tale"
"The Cook's Prologue"
. "The Cook's Tale"
II. FRAGMENT II (GROUP B1) 47
"The Man of Law's Tale"
"The Epilogue to the Man of
Law's Tale"
III. FRAGMENT III (GROUP D) .................... 52
"The Wife of Bath's Prologue"
"The Wife of Bath's Tale"
"The Friar's Prologue"
"The Friar's Tale"
"The Summoner1s Prologue"
"The Summoner's Tale"
Chapter
XV.
V.
VI .
VII .
VIII .
IX.
Page
FRAGMENT IV (GROUP E ) .......................... 65
"The Clerk's Prologue"
"The Clerk's Tale"
"The Merchant's Prologue"
"The Merchant's Tale"
FRAGMENT V (GROUP F ) .......................... 78
"Introduction to The Squire's Tale"
"The Squire's Tale"
"The Franklin's Prologue"
"The Franklin's Tale"
FRAGMENT VI (GROUP C ) .......................... 82
"The Physician's Tale"
"The Pardoner's Prologue"
"The Pardoner's Tale"
FRAGMENT VII (GROUP B2) ........................ 88
"The Shipman's Tale"
"The Tale of Sir Thopas"
"The Tale of Sir Melibee"
"The Prologue of the Monk's Tale"
"The Monk's Tale"
"The Nun's Priest's Tale"
FRAGMENT VIII (GROUP G ) ........................ 96
"The Canon's Yeoman's Prologue"
"The Canon's Yeoman's Tale"
FRAGMENT IX (GROUP H ) .......................... 99
"The Manciple's Prologue"
"The Manciple's Tale"
Chapter
Page
X. FRAGMENT X (GROUP I) ........................... 100
"The Parson's Prologue"
"The Parson's Tale"
CONCLUSION................................................. 105
BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................. 110
I N D E X .............................. 115
iv
INTRODUCTION
Chaucerians have underestimated Chaucer's ability to
play with words in The Canterbury Tales. Thomas Lounsbury,
one of the most important Chaucerian scholars of the nine
teenth century, saw only one word-play, in Troilus and
Crisevde. He decided that "Chaucer is virtually free from
those verbal quibbles which characterize to so marked a
degree the language of the Elizabethan dramatists."^ W. W.
Skeat, in his monumental seven-volume work, The Complete
Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, mentions only nine word-plays,
seven of which are in Troilus and Crisevde. Discussing the
possible play on stile (v [f ]106), Skeat says: "such puns
2
are not common in Chaucer." In 1916, J. S. P. Tatlock
published a short paper, "Puns in Chaucer," in which he
notes seven examples, only five of which are from The
• ^Studies in Chaucer (London, 1892), III, 319.
22nd ed. (Oxford, 1900), V, 374.
1
Canterbury Tales. His conclusion reinforces Skeat1s earlier
remark: "In Chaucer the pun is as common, perhaps, as in
other poets of humor except during times when Euphuism and
3
the like gave especial vogue to artificial wit." But
Tatlock, however, neglects to specify how common or uncommon
puns are in "other poets of humor." Similarly, Fred N.
Robinson, in what has come to be the standard single-volume
edition, The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, after pointing to
only seven word-plays in The Canterbury Tales, concludes
4
that "puns are unusual in Chaucer." Raymond Preston cxtes
seven examples, three of which are from Troilus and Cri-
sev.de.5
These five works represented the total scholarship on
the subject of word-play in Chaucer until Helge Kokeritz's
pioneering article, "Rhetorical Word-Play in Chaucer."
Kokeritz, using a non-classical definition of double-
^Stanford University Publications. Flugel Memorial
Edition, p. 213.
^2nd ed. (Cambridge, Mass., 1957), p. 760. All subse
quent quotations from Chaucer are from this edition.
5Chaucer (London, 1952), pp. 71, 85, 8 6, 104, 105, 165,
166 .
6PMLA, LXIX (1954), 937-952.
entendre that he equates with pun, maintains that "real
doubles-entendres involving either two homonyms or two
connotations of the same word, what the medieval rhetori
cians termed significatio or pun in the modern sense, appear
as well in Chaucer, though not very often" (p. 951). Al
though he does not seem to find any more word-plays than
his fellow scholars, he helps to break ground in relating
Chaucer's word-play to the subject of medieval rhetoric.
Kokeritz emphasizes the fact that Chaucer knew and was
interested in medieval rhetoric. He points out, for in
stance, that Chaucer addressed Geoffrey de Vinsauf, probably
the most important writer on the subject of rhetoric in the
Middle Ages, in "The Nun's Priest's Tale":
0 Gaufred, deere maister soverayn,
That whan thy worthy kyng Richard was slayn
With shot, compleynedest his deeth so soore,
Why ne hadde I now thy sentence and thy loore,
The Friday for to chide, as diden ye?
For on a Friday, soothly, slayn was he.
Thanne wolde I shewe yow how that I koude pleyne
For Chaunticleres drede and for his peyne.
(VII[B2 ]3347-3354)
He further indicates that Chaucer had read at least a part
of de Vinsauf's book on rhetoric, the Poetria Nova, from
which he borrowed a section for the Troilus and Criseyde
(I, 1065ff.).7
Scholarship more recent than Kokeritz's, confining it
self to the explication of one word or one line in a single
tale, and ignoring medieval rhetorical practices, is never
theless beginning to recognize Chaucer's word-plays: Paul
E. Beichner, "Non Alleluia Ructare." MS, XVIII (1956), 135-
1 4 4; Alice Fox Kornbluth, "Another Chaucer Pun," N&O. VI
(1957), 243; John M. Steadman, "Simkin's Camus Nose: A
Latin Pun in the Reeve's Tale?" MLN. LXXV (1959), 4-8;
Joseph E. Grennen, "Double-Entendre and the Doctour of
Phisik," AN&O. I (1962), 131-132; Arthur R. Huseboe, "Chau
cerian Puns on 1Brotel,1" NDO. XXI (1962), 35-37; A. H.
MacLaine, "Chaucer's Wine-Cask Image: Word-Play in The
Reeve's Prologue." MAE. XXI (1962), 129-131; Norman D.
Hinton, "More Puns in Chaucer," AN&O. II (1963), 115-116;
D. W. Robertson, Jr., A Preface to Chaucer: Studies in
^The Poetria Nova has been translated incompletely by
Edmond Faral, Les artes poetiques du XIIIe et du XIVe siecle
(Paris, 1924), and paraphrased incompletely by J. W. H. At
kins, English Literary Criticism: The Medieval Phase (Lon
don, 1943). According to Robinson, the description of the
lady in The Book of the Duchess is based on the rhetorical
principles of the Poetria Nova. Robinson says "that this
mode of describing a lady feature by feature was convention
al in medieval love poetry. A rhetorician's specimen doubt
less known to Chaucer was furnished by Geoffroi de Vinsauf,
Poetria Nova. II, 563" (p. 776).
Medieval Perspectives (Princeton, 1963), pp. 246-247, 332;
Bernard F. Huppe and D. W. Robertson, Jr., Fruvt and Chaf:
Studies in Chaucer's Allegories (Princeton, 1963), pp. 46,
49; Bernard F. Huppe, A Reading of the Canterbury Tales (New
York, 1964), pp. 36, 78, 81, 83-84, 115-116, 119, 121, 125,
151, 156, 164, 198, 202-208, 222, 227-229.
The most important work on word-play in Chaucer is
Pauli F. Baum’s "Chaucer's Puns," PMLA, LXXI (1956), 225-
246, and "Chaucer's Puns: A Supplementary List," PMLA.
LXXIII (1958), 167-170 Baum explicates approximately 128
examples, fifty-two of which are from The Canterbury Tales.
Of these fifty-two examples from The Canterbury Tales only
twenty-seven will be important for this study. I shall
demonstrate later in this paper that Baum interpreted in
completely some of the twenty-seven.
Both Baum and Kokeritz agree that Chaucer's plays on
words are in accord with medieval practices. Kokeritz dis
cusses Chaucer's use of the two figurae verborum included
in the general category of punning: traductio and adnomina-
tio. Baum fills out Kokeritz's study of the figurae verbo
rum by concentrating on Chaucer's use of significatio.
These three figures, traductio. adnominatio. and sig
nificatio . are found in de Vinsauf's Poetria Nova. De
Vinsauf in turn based his discussion of these three terms on
the most important source for medieval rhetoric, the pseudo-
Ciceronian Rhetorica ad Herennium. J. W. H. Atkins de
scribes the ad Herennium as an "anonymous schoolbook that
came to play the most significant role in the formulation of
8
medieval poetic theory." Since these three terms are not
fully explained in the incomplete versions of the Poetria
Nova that we have, it may be well to look at a brief defi-
9
nition for each of these terms in the ad Herennium.
The ad Herennium defines traductio as the "repetition
of the same word repeatedly in the same sentence."^ Ad-
nominatio involves the "reproduction of almost the same word
or name by changing only its quality or, alternatively, one
or two of its letters. " Signi fi catio is defined as "the
^English Literary Criticism, p . 122.
^All references are to the Loeb Classical Library edi
tion, trans. Harry Caplan, Cambridge (Mass.), 1954.
^■®"Qui nihil habet in vita jucundius vita, is cum vir-
tute vitam non potest colere" ("One who has nothing in life
more desireable than life cannot cultivate a virtuous life")
(IV, xiv, 20).
■^The end result is accomplished through many different
methods: by contracting the same letter, "Hie qui se magni-
fice iactat atque ostentat, venit antequam Romam venit"
("This man who brags and boasts so proudly was sold I venit 1
before he reached fvenit1 Rome"); by the reverse, "Hie quos
figure that leaves more to be suspected than has actually
been asserted," or what we today would call innuendo. This
trope can be achieved in five ways: per exsuperationem.
12
consequentiam. abscisionem, similitudinem. and ambrguum.
Only significatio per ambiauum. what we call today double-
entendre . will be important for this study.
Significatio is achieved through ambiauum (ambiguity),
the ad Herennium says, when a particular word "can be taken
in two or more senses, but yet is taken in that sense which
the speaker intends" (IV, liv, 67). For example, one might
say to a man who has recently inherited some money: "Pro-
spice tu, qui plurimum cernis" ("Just look out, you, who
homines alea vincit, eos ferro statim vincit" ("The men whom
he beats fvincit1 at dice, he immediately threatens" fvin
cit 1); by lengthening the same letter, "Hinc avium dulcedo
ducit ad avium" ("From here the sweet song of birds favium 1
leads to a wilderness" favium ])r and through other methods
too numerous to include here.
^ Exsuperatio. hyperbole, is defined as the saying of
more than the truth warrants, so as to give greater force to
a suspicion. Significatio. by consequentiam. logical conse
quence, is produced when one mentions the things that follow
from a given circumstance, thus leaving the whole matter in
distrust. Significatio. by abscisionem. aposiopesis, occurs
when we begin to say something, and then stop short, and
what was already said leaves enough to arouse suspicion.
Significatio is produced through similitudinem. analogy,
when we cite some analogue and do not amplify it, but by its
means intimate what we are thinking.
look out for yourself so profitably"), with a play on the
two meanings of cernere; "to see" and "to accept an inheri
tance ."
What we find in this rhetorical figure of thought,
then, is an ambiguity arising from a play on the multiple
meanings of a word. But unless the context permits a doubt,
13
there is no ambiguity and hence no double-entendre. For
instance, when Chaucer refers, in "The General Prologue"
(l[A]395), to the Shipman as a "good felawe," the latter1s
character is ambiguous enough so that we do not know whether
Chaucer means simply "fellow" or whether he means "rascal."
The MED gives these two meanings as -possible definitions for
the word. (The ad Herennium warns that "we must avoid those
ambiguities which render the style obscure. . . ." [IV, liv,
67]. And, indeed, the ambiguity in the example above does
not alter Chaucer's style.) But further on in "The General
Prologue." when Chaucer, describing the Summoner1s actions,
says: "He wolde suffre for a quart of wyn/ A good felawe
•^It is further worth noting that the second half of
our classical definition of double-entendre (that the word
"is taken in that sense which the speaker intends") implies
that the play should be intentional. But Chaucer must first
indicate by implying a doubt that he intends a double-enten-
dre. Otherwise the double-entendre is gratuitous.
to have his concubyn" (I[A]649-650) , there is no ambiguity
14
and hence no double-entendre. Concubines were decidedly
immoral, so that this "good felawe" is certainly more than
an innocent "fellow": specifically, he is a "rascal." This
is especially true if we accept Robinson's comment that the
"reference is probably to priests who lived with concubines"
(Works., P- 667).
In the double-entendre that operated effectively, then,
we might say that first Chaucer's audience recognized two or
more possibilities of meaning, and momentarily kept these
meanings in mind; then it realized that at least two of the
meanings would suit the context.
This dissertation will be a continuation of the work
hinted at by Helge Kokeritz on Chaucer's "real doubles-
entendres." and an amplification and revision of the work
started by Pauli F. Baum. Baum's work includes all cate-
•^There is ambiguity, but really no double-entendre. on
the word sacrement in "The Merchant's Tale": "But finally
yeomen is the day/ That to the chirche bothe be they went/
For to receyve the hooly sacrement" (IV[E]1700-1702). Janu
ary and May are about to be married. Sacrement could refer
either to the sacrament of marriage or to the receiving of
the Eucharist. The meaning of the line, however, is not
significantly altered by substituting one definition for the
other; we would expect January and May to receive either the
sacrament of marriage or the Eucharist.
gories of significatio in all of Chaucer's poetry. He in
fact applies to the poetry a modern definition of pun which
he says is found in the OED: "the use of a word in such a
way as to suggest two or more meanings or different associa
tions . . . ." However, no attention has been paid to that
particular kind of significatio that Chaucer would have
found defined in Geoffrey de Vinsauf, that is, that kind
which would have come to him through classical tradition.
This paper will attempt to examine carefully The Canterbury
Tales. imposing on the poetry a classical definition of
double-entendre that grows out of the discussion of one type
of significatio. significatio per ambiguum. in the ad Heren
nium . Later, this definition appears in de Vinsauf's
Poetria Nova. (It is important to point out here that per
haps because earlier scholarship did not concentrate enough
on classical rhetoric, pun and double-entendre were used
interchangeably, as we have seen with Kokeritz's defini-
15
tion. Thus, only twenty-seven of the fifty-two examples
• ^ K o k e r i t z is not alone. For instance, Skeat glosses
the double-entendre on stile (v[f]106), and immediately
says, "Such puns are not common in Chaucer" (italics mine)
(Complete Works. V, 374). Similarly, Robinson glosses the
double-entendre on Philosophre (l[A]297), and comments:
"Puns are unusual in Chaucer" (italics mine) (Works. p.
760) .
11
significatio that Baum cites from The Canterbury Tales are
doubles-entendres. I have included and commented on only
those examples from Baum, and from other scholars, that fit
the classical definition.)
We shall never know, of course, whether Chaucer's
doubles-entendres— or, indeed, the doubles-entendres of many
other authors— are intentional. Some of those discussed
below could well have been accidental. But from the evi
dence for an established tradition of doubles-entendres in
the Middle Ages, and from the number of what appear to be
clear cases, we seem to be on safe ground in assuming in
tention behind most of them.
This dissertation glosses 204 of Chaucer's doubles-
entendres . fifty-eight of which have been pointed out by
other scholars. I have made some additions to sixteen of
the fifty-eight, while 146 represent totally original con
tributions .
CHAPTER I
FRAGMENT I (GROUP A)
"The General Prologue"
1. inspired. (6 , "Inspired hath in every holt and
heeth.") Baum suggests inspired means either "breathed
upon" or "quickened" ("Puns," p. 229), but he neglects to
comment on the word's religious connotation: "to influence
or actuate by special divine or supernatural agency" (OED).
The religious double-entendre makes obvious sense in the
beginning of the pilgrimage.
2. rvde. (94, "Wei koude he sitte on hors and faire
ryde.") Since the Squire is a candidate for knighthood, he
would be interested in horsemanship. But since he is "a
lovyere and a lusty bacheler" (80), the sexual connotation
of ryde: "to mount the female, to copulate" (OED). would
certainly be appropriate in his description.
3. gay. (111-113, "Upon his arm he baar a gay bracer,/
And by his syde a swerd and a bokeler,/ And on that oother
12
13
syde a gay daggere.") A look at Chaucer's brief sketch of
the Yeoman (101-117) will reveal that practically the only
details Chaucer gives us about him concern bis dress. At
two points in the description Chaucer uses the word gav.
The word meant "bright and lovely," and also "showily
dressed." He appears to be a fop. We should bear in mind
that the Yeoman's rank in society was of the highest level
of the common people, and as part of the common people he
was entitled to no heraldry. Since he was not able to wear
his rank in the form of heraldic symbol, he may have been
reduced to showing his rank by wearing the common people's
equivalent of heraldry: highly adorned clothes.
There is further evidence that Chaucer's Yeoman is a
fop. At line 104, Chaucer says: "A sheef of pecok arwes,
bright and kene." E. S. Krapp points out that people ac
tually used peacock arrows, and that the use occurs in other
contemporary literature.^ But pecok had another connota
tion. In the Middle Ages and later, it was a symbol of
vainglory.
4. cov. (119, "That of hir smylyng was ful symple and
1,1 A Note on Chaucer's Yeoman," MLN. XLIII (1928), 176.
14
coy.") Robinson's notes suggest that we read cov to mean
"quiet," without the modern implications. David Zesmer,
however, says that the Prioress is "all woman," and even her
2
name, Eglentyne, "smacks of the romances." He continues by
saying that the Prioress has the customary "attributes of
the beautiful heroines of medieval romances and are hardly
what one should notice in a nun" (p. 214). In addition, the
OED indicates that in the fourteenth century coy did carry
our modern coquettish meaning.
5. reverence. (139-141, "And peyned hire to countre-
fete cheere/ Of court, and to been estatlich of manere,/ And
to ben holden digne of reverence.") Huppe suggests that
Chaucer may be telling us something about the Prioress'
"worldly" desires with the double-entendre on reverence.
He says that two meanings are suggested in lines 139-141:
"Courtly ladies achieve respect for their birth and gentle
manners; nuns are revered for their holiness" (Reading, p.
33) .
6 . gauded, grene. (159, "A peire of bedes, gauded al
with grene.") Baum tells us the phrase, "gauded al with
^Guide to English Literature. College Outline Series,
(New York, 1961), p. 213.
15
grene," means that every tenth bead was green ("Suppl.," p.
168). But with the other ambiguities in the Prioress' por
trait, the suggestion of a "gaudy rosary" should not seem
far-fetched. The OED. however, gives 1430 as the earliest
date for this meaning of gaud. Chaucer's may be an earlier
instance.
7. crowned. (16 0-162, "And theron heng a brooch of
gold ful sheene,/ On which ther was first write a crowned
A,/ And after Amor vincit omnia.") The phrase, "crowned
A," literally means that the letter A was surmounted by the
figure of a crown. But there is some doubt, in light of
what we know of the Prioress' character, as to what kind of
crown Chaucer had in mind: was it a secular or a religious
one? The MED indicates that crown could refer, in a secular
sense, to a monarch or, in a theological sense, to God or
Christ or the Virgin. The Prioress reinforces the reli
gious/secular ambiguity with her motto, Amor vincit omnia,
about which Huppe says:
The description culminates in her choice of a wonder
fully ambiguous brooch on which was written "Amor vincit
omnia." delightfully signalizing her love of God, but
with all due recognition of the courts of the world,
where love means something else. (Reading. p. 34)
8 . venerie. (166, "An outridere, that lovede
16
venerie.") The usual interpretation of the line is that
the Monk loved to hunt. The OED indicates, however, that
besides "the hunt" or "the chase" venerie also meant "the
practice or pursuit of sexual pleasure; indulgance of sexual
desire," and gives 1497 as its first recorded date. Here
may be an even earlier instance of the word with that mean
ing. (See the discussion of the Squire for the possible
bawdy connotation of ryde, a hint of which is possibly re
tained here in Chaucer's use of outridere.)
In determining whether the double-entendre is justi
fied, we should remember several things that Baum tells us
about the Monk's character. First, the Monk is a "manly
man" (167). Second, he wears a pin, with a love knot at
tached (197). And third, when the Host calls on him for a
tale, "he seems to expect a bawdy one and emphasizes the
Monk's amorous activities (B. 3135)" ("Puns," p. 24-6).
This is not a double-entendre. however, in the true
sense of the word, for we do not have one word with several
senses. Instead, venerie derives from three Latin words:
veneror. "I worship"; venor. "I hunt"; and veneris. the gen
itive singular of Venus, the goddess of love. But for those
of Chaucer's audience who did not know the Latin, but who
did know the several English senses of venerie. the
17
double-entendre undoubtedly worked.
9. prikvng. (191-192, "Of prikyng and of huntyng for
the hare/ Was al his lust.") The meaning of the line is
disputed. John Matthews Manly says prikyng does not mean
"hard riding," as is commonly supposed, but "tracking the
3
hare," not by scent but by footprints. Baum says, "both
senses fit the Monk, if Manly is right, and also the obscene
sense" ("Puns," p. 242). The OED gives as one of the mean
ings of prikyng not merely "hard riding," but more speci
fically, "riding with spurs." And if we draw an analogy
between riding on a horse and copulating with a woman (bear
in mind the sexual connotation of ryde), prikyng would seem
to have obscene connotations.
10. poynt. (200, "He was a lord ful fat and in good
poynt.") If Baum is correct in assuming that prikvng had
an obscene sense in the fourteenth century, that sense may
have derived from the noun prikke: "anything that pricks or
pierces; an instrument or organ having a sharp point." The
OED gives the identical definition for poynt.
11. wantowne. merye, solempne. (208-209, "A frere
ther was, a wantowne and a merye,/ A lymytour, a ful sol-
3
Editor, The Canterbury Tales (New York, 1928), p. 510.
(This is not the Manly-Rickert edition.)
18
empne man.") The Friar is reminiscent of the Monk. Chaucer
begins his description of the Friar by saying that he is a
wantowne. merye. and a solempne man. All three words are
loaded. Wantowne ranges from the harmless "undisciplined"
to the stronger "lascivious" and "lewd." The OED suggests
the even stronger "given to amorous dalliance." Merve ran
ges from "pleasing and agreeable" to "indulging in feasting
and jollity." Solempne may be interpreted as either "formal
4
and ceremonious" or "festive and merry." Perhaps because
of the corrupt condition of the Friars in Chaucer's day
(Robinson, Works, p. 656), we are given broad limits within
which we may interpret the Friar's character. The Friar's
character is still ambiguous when we reach line 211: "So
muchel of daliaunce and fair langage" (italics mine), for
daliaunce meant both "social conversation" and "wanton toy
ing ."
12. cost. (212-213, "He hadde maad ful many a
mariage/ Of yonge wommen at his owene cost.") In what is
^Huppe also comments on lines 208ff.: "Granted that
'wanton' does not necessarily have its pejorative modern
connotation, it is at the best an unexpected adjective as
the first to be applied to a 'povre frere.' The adjective
'solempne' also provides a problem of interpretation, its
meaning ranging from formal to festive. In the context of
'wantowne,' the connotation festive seems implied, but the
ambiguity of meaning provides a hint of hypocrisy: the
formality is show" (Reading. p. 35).
19
probably a desire to minimize the Friar's bad reputation,
5
E. Fliigel and H. B. Hinckley have explained these lines as
meaning that the Friar had enabled numerous runaway couples
to marry without paying fees, or at least had assumed gen
eral responsibility for them. Skeat, M. H. Liddel, Manly,
and Robinson^ interpret the lines to mean that the Friar, at
his own expense, had provided for the marriages of sundry
women who had been his concubines.
Karl Young offers still another solution, quoting as
proof an unpublished memorandum of 1321 from the register of
John de Drakensford, bishop of Bath and Wells. From the
document it appears that a vicar named Geoffrey was charged
with having broken a promise to provide funds toward a suit
able marriage for a certain Juliana, by whom he had had two
children. Geoffrey later denied the promise of reparation,
but he did acknowledge the abuse of Juliana and the pater
nity of the children. He then submitted to the bishop's
award of six marks to Juliana's parents as aid toward
^Ewald Flugel, "Some Notes on Chaucer's Prologue,"
JEGP, I (1897), 118-135; Henry Barrett Hinckley, Notes on
Chaucer (Northampton, 19 07), p. 18.
^Skeat, Complete Works. V, 25-26? M. H. Liddel, Chaucer
(New York, 1911), p. 146; Manly, Canterbury Tales, p. 511;
Robinson, Works. p. 656.
20
arriving at a suitable marriage for the girl. Young sug
gests that this situation probably happened to more than one
friar, and that the phrase, "!At his owene cost, 1 should now
7
be clear."
There seems to be another meaning for lines 212-213, if
we realize a possible double-entendre on cost. in the sense
of foregoing something, of being deprived. We may then read
the line to mean that the Friar married off many young women
whom he would have liked to keep for his own pleasure.
13. noble post. (212-214, "He hadde maad ful many a
mariage/ Of yonge wommen at his owene cost./ Unto his ordre
he was a noble post.") Huppe sees an anatomical double
entendre on noble post. He says:
Because Friar Huberd is indeed a successful practitioner
of "daliaunce and fair langage," he has to marry off the
victims of his art— this "ful solempne man," who is, with
unmistakable double-entendre. a "noble post" of his order.
(Reading. p . 36.)
14. famulier. worthy. (215-217, "Ful wel biloved and
famulier was he/ With frankeleyns over al in his contree,/
And eek with worthy wommen of the toun." ) The first double-
entendre. on famulier. is obvious because the word had the
^"A Note on Chaucer's Friar," MIN, L (1935), 83.
21
same meaning, "being overly intimate," in Chaucer's day as
it does today. This double-entendre on famulier should give
further support for the bawdy meanings of lines 212-213
above.
The second double-entendre, on worthy. is a bit more
obscure. Chaucer plays with worthy to let his audience know
that the Friar knew many different kinds of women; the word
meant "those deserving of something by reason of merit or
excellence," and also those "by reason of .fault or wrong
doing" (MED).
15. licenciat. (220, "For of his ordre he was licen-
ciat.") The Friar has received from his order a license to
hear confessions and to administer penances. But friars
were often lax in the imposition of those penances, and
Chaucer may be telling that to his audience with the pun on
licenciat. The word is derived from the Latin licentia.
"liberty to do just as one likes," from which words like
licentious are derived. Eric Partridge indicates that the
bawdy connotation was no longer hinted at by the time we
8
reach the sixteenth century— it was formalized. It seems
reasonable to assume Chaucer hints at the bawdy meaning
8Shakespeare1s Bawdy (New York, 1960), p. 171.
22
here. And he probably strengthens the connotation when he
tells us that the Friar lisped (264), usually considered to
be a sign of licentiousness .
We should not lose sight of the literal level of the
line, for licenciat. in general terms, meant "one who had
obtained a license or authoritative permission to exercise
some function." The Friar would appear to have religious
sanction to carry on his famuliaritv with women. And when,
at line 222, Chaucer says, "And plesaunt was his absolu-
cioun" (italics mine), it is not difficult to imagine the
smile on Chaucer's face as he rounds out the double-
entendre.
16. purchas. rente. (256, "His purchas was wel bettre
than his rente.") Edwin Greenlaw has glossed both words:
"Purchas stands for illegal gains and rente for illegal in
come ."^ And the feend in "The Friar's Tale" (III[D]1451),
"My purchas is th' effect of al my rente," makes the dis
tinction even clearer, implying that he has no legal income.
17. love-daves. (258, "In love-dayes ther koude he
muchel help.") John Webster Spargo meticulously demon-
9"A Note on Chaucer's Prologue," MLN. XXIII (1908),
142.
23
strates that the ME love-dayes had nothing at all to do with
love, but with a corruption of ON lufu. He suggests that
along with OE lufu. meaning "love," which became ME love.
descended ON lof. "license, permission." And since legal
formulas, like any other well-worn patter, are mumbled, lof
was assimilated in form, in its special, technical legal
sense, with lufu. A ME love resulted, bearing the same
legal sense as lufu. and appearing in ME love-dav. The
expression means "license day, permission day," a day on
which legal disputes are settled out of court.^
We have only to refer to line 220 to recall Chaucer 1s
pun on the Friar's "liberty," "love," and "legality," all
of which seem to be contained in love-dav.
18. chevvssaunce. (282, "With his bargaynes and with
his chevyssaunce.") Robinson explains the double-entendre:
"[Chevyssaunce1 properly referred to borrowing and_ lending,
or dealing for profit, [and] was constantly used (like the
word bargayn) for dishonest practices. It was sometimes a
term for usury, and this implication may be intended here"
(Works., p. 658).
19. philospphre. (297, "But al be that he was a
10,1 Chaucer's Love-Days," Speculum. XV (1940), 36ff.
24
philosophre.") Robinson says that here "there is an un
questionable play on the word philosophre in its ordinary
meaning and in its cant sense of 'alchemist'" (Works. p.
658) .
20. rdasi-berd. 1 (332, "Whit was his berd as is the
dayesye.") The MED notes that the term dasi-berd was a term
of contempt: "a worthless fellow, a good-for-nothing, a
nuisance," but gives 1425 as its earliest date. Chaucer's
may be an earlier instance.
21. rouncy. (390, "He rood upon a rouncy, as he
kouthe.") Robinson says rouncy means either "poor hackney,
nag (as usually assumed), or a great, strong horse" (Works.
p. 661). The rest of the line, "as he kouthe," implies that
the Shipman's riding was poor. With the double-entendre on
rouncv. the line may mean that the horse was strong but the
Shipman, accustomed to water, could not ride well, or that
the horse was a nag, and again the Shipman rode as best he
could, or poorly.
22. good felawe. (395, "And certeinly he was a good
felawe.") The phrase was often used with an implication of
rascality, that is, the Shipman was one who "stole goods."
The same double-entendre also works at lines 65 0 and 653
(see p. 8 , supra).
25
23. grounded. (414, "For he was grounded in astrono-
mye.") The line indicates that the Doctour was familiar
with the principles of astronomy. But since doctors pre
pared ("ground") prescriptions based on the patient's
zodiacal sign, the double-entendre on grounded. with some
grammatical liberty in the line, becomes clear. In addi
tion, Chaucer may also be suggesting that the Doctour is
"earth-bound" as contrasted with "heavenly."
24. praktisour. (422, "He was a verray, parfit prak-
tisour.") The Doctour was a "perfect practitioner," but
praktisour also meant one who was engaged in dishonest deal
ings. The Doctour may be something other than honest.
(This would support the suggestion above that he is "earth-
bound." )
Walter Clyde Curry cites evidence from the seventeenth
century of collusion between apothecaries and doctors (cf.
I[A]425-428). Druggists were charged with foisting incompe
tent practitioners on patients; doctors were charged with
sending their patients to favorite druggists. Perhaps
through the double-entendre on praktisour Chaucer tells us
Chaucer and the Medieval Sciences. 2nd ed. (London,
1960), p. 129.
26
the Doctour is in this situation and is taking advantage of
it.
25. withouten. (461, "Withouten oother compaignye in
youthe.") Baum tells us the deliberate ambiguity is cer
tainly a double-entendre: "not having any" and "not to
mention" ("Puns," p. 246).
26. thombe of gold. (562-563, "Wei koude he stelen
corn and tollen thries;/ And yet he hadde a thombe of gold,
pardee.") There may be several meanings here, suggested by
Baum:
First, his thumb was valuable because like all good
millers he could tell the quality of grain by feeling
it with thumb and forefinger. And yet, second, he
could steal and collect three times its value "by
diverting the grain from the scale with his thumb"
(Mrs. Hornstein). Third, "He was honest as Millers
go" (Robinson), referring to the proverb, "An honest
Miller hath a golden thumb." ("Suppl.," p. 168)
27. Rouncivale. (670, "Of Rouncivale, his friend and
his compeer.") Tatlock suggests a not too widely accepted
double-entendre on rouncivale. "a mannish woman," or rouncy.
"a riding horse" ("Puns in Chaucer," p. 232). It may be
accepted by those who believe the Pardoner is a homosexual.
28. clause. (715, "Now have I toold you soothly, in
a clause.") After his catalog of the pilgrims, the pilgrim/
narrator speaks this line. Baum glosses the double-entendre
thus:
In the grammatical sense it has been a long clause, of
674 verses. Chaucer's use of the word elsewhere does
not clearly imply the grammatical sense, but he must
have known it, for it is as old as the thirteenth cen
tury. The other meaning, "an enclosed section," points
up the quip. ("Puns," p. 232)
29. (756-782). Chaucer begins the description of the
Host by telling us that "of manhod hym lakkede right naught1
(756)— he was a manly man. There would be no point in giv
ing us this detail if we could not expect later to see
allusions to that manliness. From lines 756 to 782 Chaucer
presents us with those allusions in such words as confort.
disport, myrie, mvrth. and pis,ye..
Confort. in Shakespeare's day, meant "love's caresses"
the OED does not indicate this connotation in Chaucer's day
but gives "to restrengthen the bodily organs," and "a
pleasure or delight." But again, a word must begin to take
on its bawdy connotations at some point: "And therfore wol
I maken yow disport,/ As I seyde erst, and doon yow som
confort" (775-776). The OED says that as early as 1385
disport meant "to play wantonly."
The word myrie (OED) meant "joyous, full of animated
enjoyment, in early use [1320] chiefly with reference to
feasting or sport." Again, when we reach Shakespeare's
28
time the word has a bawdy overtone, specifically, "bawdily
witty or humorous" (OED).
For the word myrth the OED indicates "a pleasurable
feeling, enjoyment, gratification," and gives 888 as the
earliest date.
The clearest double-entendre in the series occurs with
the word pleve: "Ye shapen yow to talen and to pleye" (772).
The word had our modern meaning, as well as "sexual indul
gence" (OED).
"The Knight's Tale"
1. priketh. herte. (1043, "The sesoun priketh every
gentil herte.") The bawdy connotation of priketh has al
ready been discussed (cf. I[a ]190-191). The sesoun of May
was, as today, a time of both religious joy and sexual re
awakening. We should not neglect in this line Chaucer's
play on herte. a variant spelling for both heart and hart.
The double-entendre becomes clearer when we consider the
sexual connotations surrounding venery and the hunt. This
hunt may operate on two levels.
Perhaps in a continuation of the sexual overtones of
the sesoun. Palamon and Arcite, both infatuated with Emily's
beauty, relate their conditions to the time of year.
29
Arcite, in exile, is bareyne (1244); while Palamon, im
prisoned, feels that Arcite has the fruyt (1282). The OED
indicates that bareyne, when applied to human beings, meant
unproductive— a barren woman or animal; and further indi
cates that fruvt meant offspring— "fruit of the loins."
2. pleye. (1195, "And for to pleye as he was wont to
do.") The double-entendre is the common sexual one on pleye
(cf. p. 28 supra). It seems to be artistically justified
since Perotheus is the one who arranges Arcite's release and
thereby touches off the tournament of love.
3. poynt. (1501, "Remembrynge on the poynt of his
desir.") The line refers to Arcite, who has just awakened
after the Maytime passage. The double-entendre on poynt has
been glossed earlier in "The General Prologue," with refer
ence to the Monk. The double-entendre here does not seem
far-fetched if we remember the fascination Emily holds for
Arcite. Further support can be found in Chaucer's telling
us that Arcite rode out into the fields with a "lusty herte"
(1513) to "pleye" (1503).
4. grene. (1512, "In hope that I som grene gete
may.") Earlier (1244) Arcite was lamenting the fact that
he was barren; now he is concerned with receiving some of
his lost grene. The MED indicates that grene meant "a
grassy field, the green earth," and figuratively "youthful
vigor." In another sense grene meant "desire, sexual pas
sion." Arcite's aims should no longer be a mystery. Iron
ically, however, it is Palamon who is hiding in a green
bush, and it is he who will finally win Emily.
5. queynte. (1531, "As doon thise loveres in hir
queynte geres) Arcite, after riding out in the woods, has
fallen into a brown study, as lovers often do in their
"queynte geres," in their "strange manner." Gere also meant
"equipment, apparel"; the additional meaning of queynte
needs some explanation. Chaucer was fond of playing with
12
the homonymic double-entendre on queynte. "strange, clev
er," and the ME queynte. a "woman's private parts" (cf. Ill
[d ]516). To understand better the humor in this double-
entendre we might look at line 1507: Arcite wants to "raaken
hym a garland of the. __gr eves," what might bef called a "May
garland," a "queynte gere."
6 . laas. (1817, "As he that hath ben caught ofte in
his [lover's] 'laas." ) In this line Theseus warns against
W. Robertson, Jr., A Preface to Chaucer: Studies
in Medieval Perspectives (Princeton, 1963), p. 500, notes
the same double-entendre on cruevnte in Troilus and Crisevde.
31
being trapped by Love, while he plays on laas. In its most
obvious sense the word means "snare, entanglement"; on a
more subtle level, it also means "lace." Theseus is saying
that one must be careful not to be caught in Love's snare,
or more realistically, in her gowns (cf. 1951 for the same
double-entendre: "Lo, alle thise folk so caught were in
hir las").
7. degrees. (1889-1890, "Round was the shap, in
manere of compas,/ Ful of degrees, the heighte of sixty
pas.") The degrees refer to the steps of the seating ar
rangement in the arena. The association with compas sug
gests another kind of degree— the points on the compass.
The OED says that the division of the circle "appears to
have been originally applied to the circle of the Zodiac, a
degree being the stage or distance travelled by the sun each
day." Baum discusses Chaucer and the compass: "Though
Chaucer may not have thought of the marks on a compass as
indicating degrees, he naturally thought of the compass as
a circle, and thus it is a short step to the ring of an
astrolabe" ("Puns," p. 235). In A Treatise on the Astro
labe . I, 7, Chaucer says "the bordure [of the astrolabe is]
divided with 90 degrees," and then in I, 21, he says that
"Thy zodiak of thin Astrelabie is shapen as a compas."
32
8 . passant. (2106-2107, "For every wight that lovede
chivalrye,/ And wolde, his thankes, han a passant name.")
Each knight wishes he had a "surpassing" name. But there is
a sense of tragic foreshadowing in passant if we consider it
also meant "passing, transitory, fleeting."
9. point. (2208, "Now cometh the point, and harkneth
if yow leste.") The Knight is suggesting that he is coming
to the central portion of his tale, while at the same time,
on another level, he is telling his audience that he is
coming to a mark of punctuation, a period. Baum ("Puns,"
p. 242), using line 1480 of "The Canon's Yeoman's Tale" for
an example ("And there a poynt; for ended is my tale"), says
this latter sense is jocular; a mark of punctuation made
with a pointel. (The OED erroneously cites line 927 of "The
Canon's Yeoman's Tale" as the first example of poynt as
period.) I think the double-entendre works here as well.
The same double-entendre operates later in "The Knight's
Tale." at lines 2965-2966: "But shortly to the point thanne
wol I wende,/ And maken of my longe tale an ende."
10. game. (2286, "And yet it were a game to heeren
al.") The Knight tells us that it would be a game. a
pleasure, for us to hear the entire story of Emily's ritual
in Diana's temple. There may be a double-entendre. for
33
game also meant "sexual indulgence."
Chaucer's source for this passage is Boccaccio.
Robinson says that what Chaucer leaves out of the descrip
tion is the rite after washing (Works. p. 679). So the
double-entendre in game may be a bawdy enticement for those
of Chaucer's audience not familiar with Boccaccio, and an
ironic double-entendre for those who were familiar with him.
11. large. (2288, "But it is good that a man been at
his large.") Robinson comments that "either 'it is well for
a man to be unhampered in his story,' or 'it is well for a
man to preserve his freedom (to keep out of prison)'"
(Works, P- 679) .
But large meant much more. The OED suggests that it
was often applied to language, and as such was used in a
wide sense to mean "loose, inaccurate." And Chaucer's
translation of Boccaccio is certainly a "loose" one; Rob
inson characterizes "The Knight's Tale" as a "free adapta
tion." He says that Boccaccio's "Teseida is a long poem in
twelve books," and that of its "nearly ten thousand lines
. . . Chaucer has but 2250 lines, of which only about 7 00
correspond, even loosely, to Boccaccio's" (Works, p. 670).
12. queynt. place. (2319-2321, "That al hire hoote
love and hir desir,/ And al hir bisy torment, and hir fir/
34
Be queynt, or turned in another place.") Emily is praying
to Diana that Palamon's and Arcite's lust be extinguished or
auevnt (past participle of guenchen)— she wishes to remain
a virgin. The innocent Emily thus ironically reinforces
what is already the goal of Palamon and Arcite: Emily's
qteynt .
Emily hopes that if their ardor cannot be extinguished,
then at least it could possibly be directed elsewhere, "in
another place," away from the queynt. Place also operates
on another level: Emily is concerned about the two knights'
fighting over her, and so she asks that they turn to another
place. meaning another "place of battle" (OED).
13. cours. (2454, "'My cours, that hath so wyde for
to turne.'") Saturn is talking about his astronomical orbit
in the sky, and at the same time about his own course of
action with respect to the action of the tale.
14. rebellvng. (2459, "The murmure and the cherles
rebellyng.") The murmure and the rebellyna are afflictions
produced by Saturn. But there may be more. Baum glosses
the double-entendre: "The most obvious meaning of the
second affliction is 'rebellion,' but along with the murmure
the idea of noise is suggested" ("Puns," p. 243).
15. vital strengthe. (2801-2802, "And yet mooreover,
35
for in his armes two/ The vital strengthe is lost and al
ago.") The vital strengthe that leaves Arcite's arms is
obviously his life, but Chaucer seems to hint at something
more. His desire all through the tale has been to hold
Emily in his arms all night. This meaning becomes clearer
if we turn to line 2247, where Palamon's desire is to have
Emily "in myne armes"; and, continuing the same meaning in
lines 2385-2387, Arcite, in describing Mars's actions with
Venus, says: "Whan that thow usedest the beautee/ Of faire,
yonge, fresshe Venus free,/ And haddest hire in armes at
thy wille." The meaning of line 2801 becomes even clearer
if we refer to lines 3405-3406 of "The Miller's Tale": "And
if so be the game wente aright,/ She sholde slepen in his
arm al nyghte," with a double-entendre in game.
"The Miller's Prologue"
1. game. (3117, "For trewely the game is wel bi-
gonne.") Considering the situation of Palamon and Emily
at the end of "The Knight's Tale" ("And Emelye hym loveth so
tendrely," 3103), and reflecting on what is forthcoming in
"The Miller's Tale" ("And heeld hire harde by the haunche-
bones," 3279), we should be able to see that the game is
truly "wel bigonne."
2. quite. (3126-3127, "I kan a noble tale for the
nones,/ With which I wol now quite the Knyghtes tale.") The
Host, line 3119, has just asked the Monk for "Somwhat to
quite with the Knyghtes tale," that is, to requite the
Knight for his tale. The Miller interrupts with lines 3126-
3127, above. Huppe says "the Knight's tale has obviously
aroused some form of social resentment in the Miller. His
use of the gentle's term of approval, 'noble,' is ironic, as
is his picking up of the Host's term 'quite' in the differ
ent sense of 'pay back' or 'revenge'" (Reading. p. 75).
3. pryvetee. (3163-3166, "An housbonde shal nat been
inquisityf/ Of Goddes pryvetee, nor of his wyf./ So he may
fynde Goddes foyson there,/ Of the remenant nedeth nat en-
quere.") Baum glosses the double-entendre: "of the divine
mysteries of his wife's private parts" ("Puns," p. 242).
Huppe's gloss is more specific: "God may rule in the heav
ens, and it is best not to be inquisitive about his 'prive-
tee'; but on earth woman rules, and too much inquisitive
ness about her 'privetee' may well lead to her refusal to
grant this 'Goddes foyson'" (Reading. p. 78) (cf. 3493).
4. game. (3186, "And eek men shal nat maken ernest of
game.") On one level, Chaucer, in this short retraction,
says: "do not take seriously what is merely fun." On
37
another level he says: "do not take seriously the tale that
deals with sexual intercourse."
"The Miller's Tale"
1. gay. (3253-3254, "There nys no man so wys that
koude thenche/ So gay a popelote or swicn a wenche.") The
Carpenter's wife is gay in the sense of being sportive and
also in the sense of being wanton. Chaucer supports this
interpretation at line 3259 where, in continuing her de
scription, he gives us both of her preceding characteris
tics: "Therto she koude skippe and make game."
2. pleve. (3273, "[Nicholas] fil with this yonge wyf
to rage and pleye.") The double-entendre here seems to be
the usual sexual one in pleye. Chaucer tells us precisely
what he means when, at line 3276, the Clerk "prively he
caughte hire by the queynte." We should notice two things
in this line: first, we should see the parody of the sec
recy surrounding courtly love. Second, we should see the
humor--the Clerk catches her privelv. with a reference to
her private parts.
3. faste. (3289-3290, "And spak so faire, and profred
him so faste,/ That she hir love hym graunted atte laste.")
Nicholas is attempting to "win over" the Carpenter's wife,
38
and in so doing he entreats her "firmly" (faste). But there
are overtones of something more, for faste also could mean
"closely, tightly": hence Nicholas in his zeal has grasped
the Carpenter's wife in his arms. There is much irony in
the line, for Nicholas has profred. that is, offered him
self up to the wife, while at the same time he has clutched
her .
4. strokes. (3381-3382, "For som folk wol ben wonnen
for richesse,/ And somme for strokes, and somme for gentil-
lesse . " ) Strokes is in contrast to gentillesse. and means
"a blow with the hand or a weapon inflicted on or aimed at
a living being" (OED). But there may be further meaning in
the line.
Stroke used as a verb means "to rub softly with the
hand, especially to pass the hand softly in one direction
over the head, body, hair, of an animal or person by way of
a caress or as a method of healing" (OED). The line is
wryly humorous because it includes the two things Absalon,
the priest, is interested in: anointing parishioners and
caressing Alisoun.
5. pryvetee. (3493-3494, "And after wol I speke in
pryvetee/ Of certeyn thyng that toucheth me and thee.")
Huppe says: "The double-entendre is perfectly conscious"
39
(Reading. p. 83), but that John is unconscious of his word
play when we reach line 3454, "Men sholde nat knowe of
Goddes pryvetee."
6 . queynte. (3604-3605, "And she was war, and knew it
bet than he,/ What al this queynte cast was for to seye.")
Realizing what Nicholas' motives are, we should not fail to
see the double-entendre in quevnte.
7. pleve. (3659-3660, "Upon the Monday was at Oseneye
/ With compaignye, hym [Absalon ] to disporte and pleye.")
Absalon1s intention is to be with Alisoun; the double
entendre in the word pleye makes it more emphatic. This
sexual overtone of the line is reinforced with a similar
double-entendre in pleve in line 3686 (see below).
8 . wake. (3686, "And al the nyght thanne wol I wake
and pleye.") On one level Absalon says he will awaken and
play. On another, less innocent level, Absalon says he will
wake. meaning he will "sit up late for pleasure or revelry"
(OED). Realizing the bawdy connotation of pleve in the same
line, we should not find it difficult to guess what kind of
wake Absalon has in mind.
There may also be a subtle, satiric poke at priests in
general here. Wake was used in a loose sense because a rule
of the early Church declared that certain feast days should
40
be preceded by services lasting through the night, what was
commonly termed a viailia. When this rule ceased to be
operative, the vigilia became a pretext for nocturnal fes
tivity, a wake. Chaucer's audience would certainly recog
nize this situation, and would probably see the priest as a
product of this religious hypocrisy. Chaucer has certainly
not shown Absalon to be much more than a religious hypocrite
earlier in the tale.
"The Reeve's Prologue"
1. (3860ff.) The Reeve makes various allusions and
direct references to the "gras tyme" of his life, and then
to the decaying of the gras and the fruyt. These allusions
seemingly have sexual connotations here, as they did in "The
Knight's Tale." line 1512. This connotation seems clearer
when the Reeve indicates his loss of vigor with the follow
ing lines: "For in oure wyl ther stiketh evere a nayl,/ To
have a hoor heed and a grene tayl" (3877-3878). For the
double-entendre here on tayl. see line 466 of "The Wife of
Bath's Prologue." We should also not overlook the possible
double-entendre in hoor. for it carried the present-day
meaning of "whore," in addition to "white-haired." The rest
of the line appears to support this meaning: "As hath a
41
leek? for thogh oure myght be goon,/ Oure wyl desireth folie
evere in oon." And the MED gives as one definition for
folie: "lechery, fornication, adultery." "The Reeve's
Tale" appears to be a surrogate for the Reeve's own frus
trated desires.
2. tappe. (3890-3893, "Syn that my tappe of lif bigan
to renne./ For sikerly, whan I was bore, anon/ Deeth drough
the tappe of lyf and leet it gon;/ And evere sithe hath so
the tappe yronne.") Partridge connects tappe, in the six
teenth century, with penis, "not only from the shape," he
says, "but also from the fact that the penis emits water"
(Bawdy. p. 8 8). Perhaps the word carried this sense in
Chaucer's time. If it did, there is double-entendre in
these lines.
"The Reeve's Tale"
1. hoote. (3941, "his name was hoote deynous Sym-
kyn.") Baum glosses this double-entendre ("Puns," p. 259).
He says this is Chaucer's only use of was hoote to mean "was
called"; in all other places Chaucer uses hicrhte. Since the
Miller was hoote. "hot-blooded," Chaucer's sole use of the
word here may be warranted.
2. panne. (3944-3945, "With hire he yaf ful many a
42
panne of bras,/ For that Symkyn sholde in his blood allye.")
Norman E. Eliason comments on the word-play in these
13
lines. The usual interpretation of.the line is that the
parson gave his daughter "brass pans" for her dowry. Panne
of bras may also be, Eliason suggests, "brass penny," a gift
for her dowry just as suitable as the former. To support
his double-entendre on panne in line 3944, Eliason asserts
that Chaucer may be playing on allye ("alloy") in line 3945.
3. (4031-4032, "And forthy is I come, and eek Alayn,/
To grynde oure corn and carie it ham agayn.") For the im
plications behind milling and grinding imagery, see "The
Wife of Bath's Prologue." lines 113-115 and 141-146. In
view of that interpretation, lines 4031-4032 would seem to
be a foreshadowing of John and Alayn1s adventures, just as
the Clerks' horse running off with the "wilde mare" may be
a foreshadowing of John and Alayn's antics. The foreshadow
ing seems to come true, for the Miller's daughter prepares
a small cake for the two Clerks, who triumphantly "carie it
ham agayn." They seemingly have their cake and eat it too.
The impact of lines 4031-4032, if granted their sexual
• * - 3"Some Word-Play in Chaucer's Reeve's Tale," MLN,
LXXI (1956), 162-164.
43
cast, would make other lines in the tale much stronger.
For instance, the Host's remark, lines 4051-4052, and its
double-entendre in queynte. becomes much more ironic: "The
moore queynte crekes that they make,/ The moore wol I stele
whan I take." The proverb at lines 4129-4130 takes on a
new ironic turn: "'Man sal taa of two thynges/ Slyk as he
fyndes, or taa slyk as he brynges.'" Finally, just before
John is about to take retribution on the Miller's daughter,
Alayn sums up the milling imagery with sudden, new humor:
"Ye, they sal have the flour of il endyng" (4174).
4. point. (4181-4182, "That gif a man in a point be
agreved,/ That in another he sal be releved.") The proverb
literally means that man may expect to receive satisfaction
for the evils that plague him. The possible double-entendre
in point has already been glossed in "The General Proloaue."
line 200. In addition, Alayn has just said: "yon wenche
wil I swyve./ Som esement ["gratification of the flesh, that
which gives pleasure or affords sensual gratification"] has
lawe yshapen us" (4178-4179). Since Alayn has suffered in
one point ("situation"), he intends to be recompensed in
another point ("pudendum").
5. rvde. (4238-4239, "But everemo, wher so I go or
ryde,/ I is thyn awen clerk, swa have I seel!") Alayn
44
neatly makes a distinction between going and riding. We
have already noted the connotation of ryde in connection
with the description of the Squire (94). Aware of Alayn's
lusty nature, we can be sure he will be rvding elsewhere.
6 . bolt upright. (4265-4266, "As I have thries in
this shorte nyght/ Swyved the milleres doghter bolt up
right.") Robinson glosses bolt upright as "flat on the
back," and then suggests we see upright. which he glosses as
either "supine" or "upright" (Works, p. 936). The MED sug
gests the word means either "straight as an arrow, erect,"
or "flat on the back, horizontal." Chaucer seems to imply
both. The Miller's daughter is flat on her back; Alayn is
"erect."
7. waked. (4284, "With John the clerk, that waked
hadde al nyght.") The double-entendre in waked. here, is
the same as that at line 3686.
"The Cook's Prologue"
1. argument. (4328-4329, "This Millere hadde a sharp
conclusion/ Upon his argument of herbergage.") Baum
("Puns," pp. 230-231) says the first meaning is probably
"dispute" or "discussion," with a hint of the technical
language of the Schools, argumentum ad hominem. But the
45
meaning "theme" or "subject" is possible, in which case of.
is optional. The OED. however, does not record the use
until 157 0.
2. game. pley. (4355, "A man may seye ful sooth in
game and pley.") This is the Host’s instruction to the
Cook. The double-entendre is clear. A man may tell the
truth in a jest, and the Cook tells the only tale he knows,
one about game and pley--the woman who "swyved for hir sus
tenance" (4422).
"The Cook's Tale"
1. ridyng. (4377-4378, "For whan ther any ridyng was
in Chepe,/ Out of the shoppe thider wolde he lepe--" ) Aware
that the Perkyn Revelour is "ful of love and paramour"
(4372), and "Wei was the wenche with hym myghte raeete"
(4374)} we should not avoid what may be a bawdy double
entendre in ridvno.
The OED says that as early as 1530 lepe meant "to
spring upon the female." Perhaps Chaucer's is the first
instance of lepe in this sense.
2. ribible. (4396, "A1 konne he pleye on gyterne or
ribible.") We should recall, here, the double-entendre in
ribible discussed earlier in lines 3328-3331. Perkyn
46
Revelour is certainly interested in "playing" on a ribibe
or "an old woman."
CHAPTER II
FRAGMENT II (GROUP B1)
"The Man of Law's Tale"
1. arenehede. (162-163, "In hire is heigh beautee,
withoute pride,/ Yowthe, withoute grenehede or folye.")
The MED defines arenehede as "youthful folly." Robinson
(Works. p. 954) defines the word as "greenness," youthful
immaturity. But since "dame Custance" seems to present a
picture of Christian purity, it is not surprising to find
other levels of meaning for arenehede. Robinson (Works, p.
9 54) points out that the word also meant "wantonness," and
the MED suggests the word had strong sexual connotations,
perhaps due to its close associations with grene. "sexual
desire." Constance is both wise and chaste.
2. ceriouslv. (185, "So greet noblesse in ernest,
ceriously.") The merchants here report to the Sultan of
Constance's virtues. The manner in which they report is
ceriouslv. "minutely, in detail." But, as Baum ("Puns,"
47
48
p. 243) says, there is not much point to in ernest unless
to draw our attention to the pun on seryous. This word is
not recorded in Chaucer, although it occurs elsewhere in
Middle English. Cf. Pronvptorium Parvulorum. 453/2, "Ser-
yows, sad and faythefulle."
3. clause. (251-252, "May no man tellen in a litel
clause/ As was arrayed for so heigh a cause.") Baum has
glossed the double-entendre for I(A)715. As was suggested
earlier, Chaucer must have known the grammatical sense of
the word, since it was as old as the thirteenth century.
The other meaning, "an enclosed section," points up the
double-entendre.
4. spilie. (587, "That verraily hym thoughte he
sholde spille.") The line refers to the young knight, who,
charmed by Satan, loved Constance with such ardor that he
thought he would spilie. "die," if he did not have his way
with her. We may be justified in interpreting spilie in
its moral sense, "to defame the soul" (OED), for this is
what the deed will do to him.
5. kyng. (617-618, "For as the lomb toward his deeth
is broght,/ So stant this innocent bifore the kyng.") At
this point in the tale, Constance has been accused of Her-
mengyld1s death, and now is led before King Alla. In view
49
of Constance's situation, the reader may wonder before which
kvng Constance is standing. Because of the miracle that is
about to happen, which will vindicate Constance, it is
reasonable to assume Chaucer wants us to realize that she
stands before both Alla and Christ.
6 . ende. (965, "but shortly, this is th' ende.") It
is the end of the stanza, the end of the description of the
Surrevn1s vengeance, and in twenty-eight stanzas, the end of
the tale.
7. orikke. (1027-1029, "I dar wel seyn hir hadde
levere a knyf/ Thurghout hir brest, than ben a womman
wikke?/ There is no man koude brynge hire to that prikke.")
The passage describes Constance's virtues, and concludes
that no man would be capable of bringing her to a wicked
end or condition (prikke). But the anatomical double
entendre in prikke should be apparent.
"The Epilogue to The Man
of Law's Tale"
1. waken. (1186-1187, "And I schal clynken you so
mery a belle,/ That I schal waken al this compaignie.") The
Shipman wants a change from the dull, chaste tale of Con
stance; he heard before the more exciting, bawdy tales of
50
the Miller and the Reeve. A hint as to what kind of tale
we might expect from the Shipman could be found in the con
notation of wake (cf. i [a ]3686).
There may be a further double-entendre in the line.
In "The General Prologue." line 719, Chaucer said of the
tavern where he stayed, "That highte the Tabard, faste by
the Belle." The exact tavern that Chaucer is referring to
is doubtful. Baum'*' names eight inns that could possibly
correspond to the Tabard by the Belle. Of those eight, only
two are known to have existed before 16 00.
The first is the Bell of ill repute mentioned by Stowe.
Among the "houses most notable" in Southwark, Stowe mentions
"the Tabard, an Hosterie or Inne" and "the stewes on the
Banke of Thames." The second is a tavern mentioned by
Randle and Norman, which Baum says was located on Clink
Street, and which he associates with the residence of
Phillip Hens low. Baum continues: "For in the Memoirs of
Sdward Alleyn, there is a letter dated 1593 showing that
Henslow lived 'on the bank sid right against the clink,'
that is, opposite the noted Clink gaol, close beside
•'■"Chaucer' s 'Faste by the Belle, 1 C. T. A. 719," MIN.
XXVI (1921), 307-309.
51
Winchester House" (p. 308) . ■
We would certainly have to agree that a leap from 1593
back to 1387 is a long and doubtful one. But Chaucer may
have given us, through the use of a double-entendre in 1186,
the address of the tavern, "clynken you so mery a belle"—
the Belle on Clink Street. John Matthews Manly would have
us believe that this method of revealing information to his
audience through a play on words is not foreign to Chaucer .
For in trying to establish Thomas Pynchbek as a possible
identity for the Man of Law, Manly points to line 326 of
"The General Prologue" for a possible pun on Pynchbek's
name: "Ther koude no wight pynche at his writyng." Could
Chaucer be intending a double-entendre in clvnken in the
same way in line 1186?
^Some New Light on Chaucer (New York, 1926), p. 147.
CHAPTER III
FRAGMENT III (GROUP D)
"The Wife of Bath's Prologue"
1. nether purs, cheste. (44b, "Bothe of here nether
purs and of here cheste.") Robinson says "these lines are
certainly genuine, though Chaucer may have meant to cancel
them" (Works. p. 699). As regards nether purs and cheste.
Albert C. Baugh says "there are obvious puns in both words."!
They.,are, more specifically, doubles-entendres . The nether
purs was the small leather bag worn around the girdle, used
to carry money in. Nether purs is used in an anatomical
sense as well. Partridge glosses nether purs, in Eliza
bethan English, to mean "scrotum" (Bawdy, p. 174). We might
note that Chaucer uses the term nether ye ("The Miller's
Tale." 3852), in its obvious anatomical sense. Perhaps
-'-Albert C. Baugh (ed.), Chaucer's Maior Poetry (New
York, 1963), p. 383.
52
53
Chaucer's is the first use of nether purs in the sense
Partridge notes. Cheste was, of course, used in its ana
tomical sense, but it also meant "a box, a coffer, used for
the safe custody of articles of value" (OED). Chaucer may
also be using this word as a double-entendre for "scrotum."
This gloss for both words would appear to make perfectly
logical sense, since the Wife appreciates both money and
virility.
2. fruyt. (113-114, "I wol bistowe the flour of al
myn age/ In the actes and in fruyt of mariage.") Huppe
finds a double-entendre in fruyt. He says that
the fruit of marriage would be children, but in this
fruit she has little interest, except verbally; a more
literal meaning of the word, etymologically, reveals
the Wife's actual interest, for "fruyt" is related to
Latin fruor, to enjoy; thus "fruyt" may imply "resultant
enjoyment." From the blossom, "flour," comes the
"fruyt," that is, children or pleasure. It is for
"fruyt" in the latter sense that the Wife has joyfully
deflowered the flower of her youth. (Reading. p. 115)
3. ese. (126-127, "I sey this, that they [procreative
organs] maked ben for bothe,/ This is to seye, for office,
and for ese.") Huppe glosses the double-entendre in ese:
Her use of "ese" here is instructive, with its double
meaning of utility and enjoyment. It is rather that
the bele chose provides her with pleasure than that it
is useful in engendering which gives it value to the
Wife--and to her husbands. (Reading. p. 116)
54
4. refresshed. (145-146, "And yet with barly-breed,
Mark telle kan,/ Oure Lord Jhesu refresshed many a man.")
The Wife of Bath had earlier said, speaking of Solomon's
many wives, "leveful unto me/ To be refresshed half so ofte
as he" (37-38) . Huppe comments on the significance of re
fresshed at line 145-146: "Christ's miracle is an allegory
which on the pivot of the word-play on 'refresshed' author
izes her exercise of plenitude in sexual gratification"
(Reading, p. 117) (cf. III[d ]1767).
5. borel. (356, "I wol renne out, my borel for to
shewe.") Baum finds that bore1 occurs only five times in
Chaucer, always in the sense of "coarse, common" ("Puns,"
p. 232); it is used here to mean "coarse clothing," and, by
ironic extension, "my poor finery." He indicates that there
may be another meaning here, citing Cotgrave, "any kind of
stuffe thats halfe si Ike and halfe worsted." Perhaps the
word could have two meanings .
Baum's interpretation of the play on the word bore 1 is
fine as far as it goes. Chaucer was undoubtedly using the
word to mean "coarse woolly stuff," in the sense of old
clothes, but a case could be made that he also intended that
"coarse woolly stuff" to refer to the pudendum. For borel
also meant a boring tool, a wimble, an auger, or the hole
55
that was left after the drilling process (OED) . What the
Wife is saying is that if she were gay, like the cat in the
analogy she is developing, then she would run outside to
show her borel as the cat shows perhaps more than her skvn.
her fur. This meaning is reinforced in line 354, with the
word caterwawed. which means a harsh cry at rutting time.
The cat and the Wife are in the same condition.
6 . nvcetee. tale. (412-416, "Thanne wolde I suffre
hym do his nycetee./ And therfore every man this tale I
telle,/ Wynne whoso may, for al is for to selle . . ./ For
wynning wolde I al his lust endure.") Huppe says that "In
passing, the word-play may be noted, on 'nycetee,1 folly,
lust, and 'tale,' tail, accounting, tale (cp. 466, and VII,
416)" (Reading. p. 121).
7. likerous. (466, "A likerous mouth moste han a
likerous tayl.") "The line is apropos of Metellius' dis
approval of his wife because she drinks," Baum says ("Puns,"
p. 240). But, he continues, the double-entendre may seem
too modern: perhaps liker may not be taken in the later
sense of distilled spirits; at least the use is not record
ed before Skelton. But drvnke. in line 463, "He sholde nat
han daunted me fro drynkeI ", he says, suggests an intoxi
cating beverage, for the wife of Metellius was struck
56
because she "drank wyn." Baum has not commented on what
seems to be the central double-entendre of the line, the
play on tayl• The Wife has just said that after wine her
thoughts turn to love: "And after wyn on Venus moste I
thynke" (464).
That tayl had an anatomical sense may be proved by a
2
quick look at Farmer and Henley, where the word is glossed
as "female pudendum," a meaning common in the fourteenth
century. If more critical support is needed for the view
that Chaucer was aware of the implications of tayl. we can
turn to "The Shipman's Tale." In view of the likelihood
that Chaucer composed "The Shipman's Tale" for the Wife of
Bath, this tale may shed some light on the Wife's tale. A
possible source of that light may be found in line 416 of
"The Shipman's Tale": "score it upon my taille." Robinson
glosses this line as "score it on my tally; charge it to my
account" (Works., p. 733). Claude Jones obliquely hints at
the bawdy in this line when he says, referring to the play
as a pun: "Robinson has not completely glossed this vulgar
but extremely pertinent pun, and in view of the situation
P
John S. Farmer and W. E. Henley, Slang and Its Ana
logues, Past and Present. Printed for Subscribers Only
(London, 1891), VII, 58.
57
of the wife and husband at the time the pun is appropriate
3
in its slang meaning." Robert Caldwell denies any sexual
4
pun, but does agree that a "double-entendre is intended."
In addition, we may note that the OED lists as a vari
ant spelling for lecherous. "addicted to lechery," licker-
ous. as early as 1302. Chaucer may be playing on liquorous/
lecherous in line 466.
If we return to the original double-entendre in "The
Wife of Bath's Prologue." line 466, and interpret it in
light of what we now know, the meaning is clearer. What the
Wife may be saying is that after drinking, one's libidinal
urges are aroused, and that this increased urge is mani
fested in two ways: by a desire to tell bawdy tales and,
with a play on tay1, by a desire for intercourse. There is
also a third thing that the Wife may be saying, if we assume
that Chaucer is using tavl. perhaps through metonymy, to
refer to a sexual partner for the Wife. The line may then
mean: the Wife, when her libidinal urges are aroused by
wine, must have an equally "aroused" sexual partner to
3"Chaucer1s Taillynge Ynough," MLN, LIII (1937), 57.
4"Chaucer's Taillynge Ynough. Canterbury Tales.
1624," MLN. LV (1940), 262.
58
extinguish those urges.
8 . daunaerous. (513-514, "I trowe I loved hym best,
for that he/ Was of his love daungerous to me.") Huppe says
that "'Daungerous' involves an interesting word-play. He
was 'standoffish,' but also his love was 'powerful,' 'se
vere, ' to such a degree that she still feels it on her
'ribbes' (506)" (Reading. p. 125).
9. queynte. (515-516, "We wommen han, if that I sha_l
nat lye,/ In this matere a queynte fantasye.") The Wife of
Bath realizes her fifth husband's power over her, Huppe
says, but "attributes it--with play on words— to the nature
of women who have 'In this matere a queynte fantasye'"
(Reading. pp. 125-126).
10. daliance. (565, "Til trewely we hadde swich
daliance.") Doubtless, says Baum, the meaning of the word
is "talk," but with a transition to "sport," and then to
"amorous wanton toying" ("Puns," p. 235). The context calls
for all three meanings.
"The Wife of Bath's Tale"
1. bisvnesse. (1196, "A ful greet bryngere out of
bisynesse.") Baum indicates that the "gloss, curarum
remocio. leaves no doubt of the primary meaning: poverty
59
frees one from anxiety, i.e., a poor man has little to fear
from thieves." He continues:
But this is not the usual sense of the word, though some
times the idea of "care, anxiety" is approached, as in
bytynoe bisynesse (Bo. Ill, m. 3.5), and the adjective
has it clearly, as in thought and busy hevynesse (PF,
89). There is a special suggestiveness in the curious
bisvnesse (El, 577) of January about his coming marriage.
It is possible to interpret line 1196 as meaning— in
amusing contrast to the context— that poverty is a
stimulant to activity: the poor man must work. ("Puns,"
p. 232)
"The Friar‘s Prologue"
1. game. (1275, "Us nedeth nat to speken but of
game.") The Friar refers to both senses of game: a pleas
ant tale and sexual indulgence (cf. i [a ]2286).
"The Friar's Tale"
1. cure. ( 1332-1333, "'Peter1 , so been the wommen of
the styves, '/ Quod the Somonour, ' yput out of oure cure'.'")
The Friar has just told the pilgrims how he will try to
tell of the Summoner's lecchours, and of his harlotrye.
The Summoner interrupts, saying that the prostitutes are
out of his spiritual care. But the Summoner is also deny
ing any association with the "wommen of the styves," if one
considers that cure also meant "fleshly desire."
2. baillv. (1396, "Thou art a bailly, and I am
60
another.") With this line, the devil indicates his office,
a bailly: "one held by delegation from a superior; an
official post or commission" (MED). The reader may wonder,
however, if Chaucer is not suggesting the Host’s name, Harry
Bailly, and thus linking him facetiously with the devil.
3. rede. (1518, "Konne in a chayer rede of this sen
tence.") Huppe glosses the double-entendre. confusing it
with pun: "Because he knows his man, the devil even makes
a hair-raising pun, for ‘rede’ understand both 'read' and
'red'; the summoner will sit in the 'hot seat'" (Reading.
p . 198).
"The Summoner1s Prologue"
1. save. (1707, "God save yow alle, save this cursed
Frere " ) The double-entendre is clear; Chaucer uses save.
with both of its meanings: "salvation" and "except." (Note
too that the line contains traductio.) Huppe noted this
double-entendre (Reading. p. 202).
"The Summoner1s Tale"
1. bacon. beef. (17 53, "Bacon or beef, or swich thyng
as ye fynde.") The Friar, along with his "sturdy harlot"
friend, is begging at a woman's door, asking for whatever
cheese, malt, or flesh he can get. When he asks for bacon
61
or beef, however, he may be revealing something of his
character. Bacon was often used in a figurative sense for
"flesh" (cf. Ill[D]418), and the MED suggests the same was
true of beef. (Cf. 1801-1804, where the Summoner embraces
Thomas 1 wife.)
2. nyfles. (1760, "He served hem with nyfles and with
fables.") Skeat (Complete Works. V, 332) glosses the word
"mockeries, pretenses," from OF nifles. "to sniff or mock
at"; cf. OF nifle."nose." The OED says perhaps the word
was connected with late Latin nichi1. "a nothing, a trifle."
Robinson glosses it merely as "trifles, silly stories"
(Works. p. 966).
3. refresshed. (1766-1768, "[The Friar] Cam til an
hous ther he was wont to be/ Refresshed moore than in an
hundred placis./ Syk lay the goode man whos that the place
is.") Huppe says that "the Wife of Bath's spectacular
word-play on 'refresshed' tends to remain in one's mind,
and the way the friar greets Thomas' wife seems to suggest
not only his accord with the wife, but the presence of
hanky-panky" (Reading. p. 203).
4. glosvnge. (179 3, "Glosynge is a glorious thyng,
certeyn.") The Friar has just told Thomas that he prays
constantly for his salvation. He then tells him that he
62
prefers to glosen the Bible, that is, to interpret it
rather than to follow the strict letter. But since the
Summoner is determined to tell us of the Friar's deceit, he
has chosen the word glosvnge with care. For in addition to
its religious meaning, alosvncge also meant "smooth or de
ceitful talk, cajolery, flattery" (MED). The Friar is not
concerned with Thomas' soul. In fact, he seems more in
terested in his wife, for in the very next passage (1796-
1801) the Friar asks about Thomas' wife, and then, line
1803, he tightly embraces her.
5. grope. (1816-1817, "Thise curatz been ful necli-
gent and slowe/ To grope tendrely a conscience.") Baum sug
gests that grope may have, besides its literal meaning, "the
associated meaning of the friar's groping, feeling out,
Thomas' conscience" ("Puns," p. 238). But the word grope
meant not only, in an ecclesiastical sense, "to search out,
to probe," but also "to feel with the hands" (OED). The
OED also suggests that the word had an obscene sense as
early as c. 1300. We should not forget that the Friar is
directing these lines at the wife. Huppe noted the double-
entendre (Reading. p. 204).
63
6 . wake. (1846-1847, "The body is ay so redy and
penyble/ To wake, that my stomak is destroyed.") The word
wake had both a religious sense and an obscene sense (cf.
l[A]3686). The Friar continues the irony in lines 1846-
1847 when he tells the wife: "I prey yow, dame, ye be nat
anoyed,/ Though I so freendly yow my conseil shewe./ By
God'. I wolde nat telle it but a fewe" (1848-1850) .
7. eructavit. (1934, "Lo, 'buf'. ' they seye, 1 cor
meum eructavit1 " ) The source of the Latin phrase is
Psalms 44:2, "Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum" ("My heart
poured forth [vomited, belched] good thoughts"). Robinson
suggests a double-entendre: "The Summoner is playing on the
literal meaning of 1eructare,1 to belch. Chaucer apparently
used, or adapted, a current joke" (Works. p. 708).
8 . stryvyng. (1997-1998, "That twenty thousand men
han lost hir lyves/ For stryvyng with hir lemmans and hir
wyves.") Huppe suggests that the Friar's admonition to
Thomas is irrelevant, since stryvyng "seems to have both
its literal and a sexual connotation" (Reading. p. 206).
9. prvvetee. (2142-2143, "Bynethe my buttok there
shaltow fynde/ A thyng that I have hyd in pia /etee.")
Thomas has a present secretly hidden for the Friar. The
present, however, is near Thomas' private parts, his
64
prvvetee.
10. ars-metrike. (2222, "In ars-metrike shal ther no
man fynde.") Baum says that the "aeometrie or ars-metrike
of 'The Knight's Tale' (A 1898) is above suspicion, but
towards the end of SumT (D 2222) the context leaves no
doubt of the pun \ double-entendre 1" ("Puns," p. 231). The
word means "arithmetic." But since the Friar's dilemma is
how to divide arithmetrically the gift from Thomas' ars.
ars-metrike takes on new, humorous significance. This is
truly not one word with two different senses, but one word
that takes on an additional sense because of the context.
Huppe also noted the double-entendre (Reading. p. 208).
CHAPTER IV
FRAGMENT IV (GROUP E)
"The Clerk's Prologue"
1. colours. (15-17, "Telle us som murie thyng of
aventures./ Youre termes, youre colours, and youre figures,/
Keepe hem in stoor til so be that ye endite.") The bour
geois, not-too-bright Harry Bailly displays a certain con
tempt for the Clerk--he compares him to a newly-married
bride: "Ye ryde as coy and stille as dooth a mayde/ Were
newe spoused, sittynge at the bord" (2-3). In the back of
his mind, though, Harry Bailly certainly has a fondness for
the "murie thyng of aventures" of the out-going clerks in
"The Miller's Tale" and in "The Reeve's Tale." And the
Host may be combining both his contempt for the Clerk's
learning and his fondness for a ribald tale in lines 15-17
with the double-entendre on colours. which had two meanings
in Chaucer's day: "a figure of speech" and a "trick." On
the one hand, Harry Bailly wants nothing to do with this
66
Clerk's fancy display of rhetoric. And on the other hand,
he wants to hear no tale "sownyng in moral vertu" from him,
for as Huppe says: "Harry Bailly (Fragment IV) alertly
notes that the Clerk seems withdrawn, and he reasons pre
sumably that the two lively portraits of Oxford clerks to
which the company has been treated have been distasteful to
the Clerk" (Reading, p. 136).
Harry's double-entendre on colours turns out ironical
ly, however, for the Clerk consents to forego the "rhetori
cal colors," and then immediately "tricks" the Host by
turning to a poet whom Huppe calls "the prince of rhetori
cians, 1Francys Petrak'" (Reading. p. 139).
"The Clerk's Tale"
1. chamberere. (818-819, "I ne heeld me nevere digne
in no manere/ To be youre wyf, no, ne youre chamberere.")
Walter is about to "annul" his marriage; Griselde says she
is not even worthy to be Walter's chamberere, his "lady-in-
waiting." Considering both the way Walter has treated her
and the fact that her children have been disposed of, we
may see that another meaning of chamberere. "prostitute,"
makes sense in this line.
2. degree. (969, "Yow for to serve and plese in my
67
degree.") Griselde says two things: she would like to
please Walter according to her own "way," "manner," and
also according to her "rank," "station."
3. camaille. (1195-1196, "Ye archewyves, stondeth at
defense,/ Syn ye be strong as is a greet camaille.") Baum
says the word is usually glossed "camel." But, he says,
"the word has also another, in fact, two other meanings:
the OF camai1. a piece of chain mail protecting the head
and throat, and a kind of hood worn by ecclesiastics"
("Suppl.," p. 167).
"The Merchant's Prologue"
1. ycoupled. overmacche. (1219-1220, "For thogh the
feend to hire ycoupled were,/ She wolde hym overmacche, I
dar wel swere,") This line, spoken by the Merchant about
his wife, operates neatly on two levels. On one level, the
Merchant suggests that if his wife were married (ycoupled)
to the devil, she would "outmatch" (overmacche) him, that
is, lord it over him (the OED gives these fourteenth-
century meanings for overmacche: "to be more than a match
for, to be powerful, to be overcome by, to defeat by super
ior strength, skill, or craft"). On the other level, the
Merchant suggests that if his wife were to have intercourse
68
with the devil (vcouple) she would probably "out couple"
(overmacche) him.
"The Merchant's Tale"
1. worthy. (1246, "A worthy knyght, that born was of
Pavye.") We may recall that Chaucer begins his description
of the Canterbury Pilgrims with the Knight, a person of
high rank: "A Knyght ther was, and that a worthy ["deserv
ing, excellent"] man" (l[A]43). Chaucer uses almost the
same words in line 1246 to describe January. But worthy is
a delightfully ambiguous word; for instance, it could also
mean "well-endowed." And from what we know of both Janu
ary's character (1294ff.) and the context, especially line
1247, "In which he lyved in greet prosperitee," we might
conclude that January is "we11-endowed," rather than "ex
cellent ."
2. seculeer. (1250-1251, "On wommen, ther as was his
appetyt,/ As doon thise fooles that been seculeer.") There
is a problem of interpretation in the line, since seculeer
meant both "secular clergy," as distinguished from monks
and friars, and also simply the "laity." The line is
either a satiric jab at the clergy, or it simply associates
"the loose conduct of the old knight to that of secular
•V ^ '
69
mankind in general."^
3. bond. (1261-1262, "And for to lyve under that
hooly bond/ With which that first God man and womman bond.")
Lines 1261-1262 obviously mean: to live under the matri
monial agreement by which God "bound" man to woman. But
when we realize that bond also meant "to put into bonds, to
take prisoner" (MED). the line takes an ironic turn (cf.
1285) .
4. fruvt. (1269-1270, "And namely whan a man is oold
and hoor;/ Thanne is a wyf the fruyt of his tresor )
Robinson sees the poetic distinction between fruit and
chaff, and thus interprets the line: when a man is old,
his wife is "'the choicest part, and flower of his posses
sions'" (Works. p. 713). But Skeat implies a different
meaning for fruvt. something close to "product of," for he
interprets the line: when a man is old, his wife must be
"purchased with his own wealth" (Complete Works . V, 354) .
Huppe has yet a third interpretation:
It may also mean what his treasure has produced, that
is, the flower of terrestrial joy, the sexual gratifi
cation which his wealth has gained him, the "joy and
•klohn C. McGalliard, "Chaucer's Merchant's Tale and
Deschamps' Miroir de Mariaae." P.Q, XXV (1946), 195.
70
solas" of which he goes on to speak. In this context
his justification for marrying a young wife in order
to produce an heir is obviously window-dressing. His
thoughts are on the acts, not the fruit, of marriage.
. . . (Reading. p. 151)
5. brotel. (1278-1280, "That bacheleris have often
peyne and wo;/ On brotel ground they buylde, and brotel-
nesse/ They fynde.") Arthur R. Huseboe glosses the double-
2
entendre. The Merchant, in an attempt to describe the in
security of bachelor life, says that they live on "brittle"
(brotel) ground. But he may be saying more, for the MED in
dicates that brote1 also meant "morally weak." So the line
may also mean, Huseboe insists, in contrast to lines 1261-
1262, bachelors must satisfy their lust v/ithout the sanction
of marital bonds.
6 . housbondrye. (1296, "'Ne take no wyf,' quod he,
‘for housbondrye.'") The Merchant, quoting Theophrastus,
intends a double-entendre on husband ("the master of the
house") and housbondrye ("the one concerned with the econom
ic administration and management of the household, in gener
al" ). Theophrastus advises against marrying a woman who
will usurp both the position and the duties of the husband.
Baum recognized the double-entendre ("Puns," p. 239).
7. knyt. (1391-1392, "They been so knyt ther may
Chaucerian Puns on 'Brotel,'" NDO. XXX (1962), 35-37.
71
noon harm bityde,/ And namely upon the wyves syde.") The
Merchant suggests that no harm may come to a husband and
wife who are closely united, knyt: especially is this true
for the wife. But there is also the suggestion here that
no harm may come when the husband is knyt. "lying on," the
wife's side. The OED gives as a fourteenth-century defini
tion of knyt: "to unite or to combine intimately."
8 . lymes. (1464-146 5, "I feele me nowhere hoor but
on myn heed;/ Myn herte and alle my lymes been as grene.")
The Merchant suggests that he is sound in "heart and limb,"
but since his primary concern has been with his virility,
(cf. 1446ff.), we may expect to find sexual connotations in
lyme. The OED says of lyme: "any organ or part of the
body" (italics mine), and cites the following line from
Trevisa's Hiaden. II, 195: "We sighe . . . a mayde .
i-torned into a man, and was i-berded anon, and anonn hadde
3
alle lymes as a man schulde have" (italics mine).
9. coraoe. (1513-1515, "And trewely, it is an heigh
corage/ Of any man that stapen is in age/ To take a yong
w y f ) Huppe sees a double-entendre: "'Corage' has the
meaning here of 'desire,' 'heart,' but also ironically, of
^We should also notice in line 1465 the word crrene.
"desire," "sexual passion," discussed earlier, I(A)1512.
72
'courage'" (Reading. p. 156).
10. pyn. (1515-1516, "To take a yong wyf; by my fader
kyn,/ Youre herte hangeth on a joly pyn'.") We may suspect,
after the Merchant's discussion of his virility, and after
his use of lymes in what is probably a sexual sense, that
pyn also has sexual overtones. If it does, the line cer
tainly takes on much humor. But proof for the use of pyn
in a sexual sense is difficult to find. The OED indicates
that the word did mean "limb," but does not record any such
use before 1570. It gives as a definition for pvn: "a
small piece of wood, metal, or other solid substance, of
cylindrical or similar shape, often tapering or pointed," a
definition that sounds very much like the definition given
for poynt (l[A]200). Perhaps Chaucer realized the simi
larities between the two "cylindrical shapes." (The OED
does record another word similar to pyn. pintle. which did
mean "penis" in the fourteenth century, and which, like pvn.
also meant "a peg or bolt.") And we should not forget that
ioly had strong sexual overtones in Chaucer's day.
Huppe has another gloss for "joly pyn": "... it must
also mean that his heart hangs on a pretty trinket; also
the orthographic homonym, pyne, torment, offers an amusing
possibility; his heart hangs on a pretty torment. The
73
metaphor is itself instructive, for something hanging by a
pin, or peg, is not very secure, and in this context doubly
insecure because his pleasure will depend on his offering
pretty trinkets, or 'raunson' as the Wife of Bath puts it"
(Reading. p. 156).
11. mannvssh wood. (1532-1536, "Men moste enquere,
this is myn assent,/ Wher she be wys, or sobre, or dronke-
lewe,/ . . . Or riche, or poore, or elles mannyssh wood.")
Robinson suggests that the phrase Justinus uses in advising
January against marrying hastily means "perhaps a fierce
virago (lit. 'mannish mad1)" (Works. p. 714). But F. L.
4
Utley suggests "lustful," "mad for men." Perhaps Chaucer
implies both meanings.
12. condescended. (16 05, "And whan that he on hire
was condescended.") The line means, in an obvious sense,
that January finally decided on a wife. But we should re
member that January is in a reverie; he is in bed, thinking
of the girl: "Many fair shap and many a fair visage/ Ther
passeth thurgh his herte nyght by nyght" (1580-1581). And
in the reverie January first thinks of his ideal wife's
^"Mannyssh Wood— Merchant's Tale (LV) 1530-1536," MLN.
LIII (1938), 359.
74
anatomy, "hir myddel smal, hire armes longe and sklendre"
(1602), and then he makes his choice: he settles (con
descends ) on a girl. The double-entendre in the line be
comes apparent if we realize that condescended also meant
"settled down on." In his "dream," January "lies on top
of" May (cf. 1830).
13. mete. (1767, "To haste hem fro the mete in subtil
wyse.") January desires his guests to leave so that he can
make love to May. And so he says: "To haste hem fro the
mete," to get them away from the table. In "The Wife of
Bath's Tale." however, Chaucer uses bacon to refer not only
to meat in general, but also to human flesh (cf. III[d ]
418). And earlier, in "The Merchant's Tale." line 1420,
January, talking about his future wife, says: "And bet
than old boef is the tendre veel." When January decides to
have his guests leave the mete. he may be referring to both
their meal and his.
14. coupled. (1836, "In trewe wedlok coupled be we
tweye.") The MED indicates that couple meant both "to be
united in marriage" and "to have sexual intercourse with."
Both meanings seem appropriate at this point in the tale.
15. wake. (1856, "Now day is come, I may no longer
wake.") The sexual connotation of wake has already been
75
discussed (I[a ]3686). The ironic humor of this double
entendre becomes apparent when we realize that January had
been up all night. When day comes he can no longer stay
awake (wake). and he can no longer indulge in intercourse
(wake).
16. disport. (1924, "Dooth hym disport--he is a gen-
til man.11) These are January's instructions to May concern
ing the sick Damyan. The instructions become ironically
humorous if we realize that disport meant both "amusement,"
"pleasurable," and also "the game of love," "flirtation."
January is actually giving instructions for his own undoing,
a practice se'emingly common to Chaucer's characters (cf.
Ill[D]1967, III [B2 ]283-285) .
17. (2057-2068) These lines certainly contain meta
phor, but we may also read in them extended double-entendre.
The metaphor that Chaucer develops from lines 2057 to 2068
is that Fortune operates in the same way a scorpion does:
both flatter us only to deliver finally their death sting.
But as we read this passage, we are suddenly struck by the
scorpion's similarity not only to Fortune, but to May as
well. Some of the lines, then, become doubles-entendres,
referring at the same time to both Fortune and to May: for
instance, "Thy tayl is deeth" (2060). We have already
76
discussed the possibility of a double-entendre in the word
tayl (cf. III[d ]466, VII[b ]416). And in fact May's tayl. or
more specifically her generosity with it, has led to Janu
ary's undoing, to his "death." January then addresses For
tune/May as " sweete venym queynte'." (2061). Recall here our
discussion of Chaucer's previous plays on queynte (cf. I[a ]
1531, III[d ]516). The same double-entendre here is not far
fetched: May's queynte is indeed a "sweet" thing for Dam-
yan's pTeasure and a "venemous" thing for January's cuckold-
ry. Baum also recognized this double-entendre ("Puns," p.
243 ) .
18. fruvt. (2210-2211) , "That Daniyan sholde clymbe
upon a tree,/ That charged was with fruyt, and up he
wente.") Chaucer prepares the reader for an elaborate
double-entendre with this line. The tree into which May
urges Damyan is truly "charged with fruyt," that is, it
will be the place where May finally gets her reward; the
MED indicates that fruvt was used to mean "profit," "re
ward," as well as "offspring," "progeny," "child," "fetus,"
and that it had associations with "procreation" and "con
ception ."
The fruvt/ "reward" is made concrete later on in the
tale, at lines 2331-2333: "I moste han of the peres that I
see,/ Or I moot dye, so soore longeth me/ To eten of the
77
smale peres grene." At this point in the tale Damyan is in
the tree. Those "smale peres grene" that May sees may well
be Damyan's genitalia (recall the strong sexual connotation
of the word grene. discussed at i [a ]1512).
Finally, Chaucer brings the double-entendre to a close
at lines 2335-2337: "a womman in my plit/ May han to fruyt
so greet an appetit/ That she may dyen, but she of it
have." The MED gives as one definition of appetit. "sexual
craving or passion."
19. dressed. (2360-2361, "Up to the tree he caste his
eyen two,/ And saugh that Damyan his wyf had dressed.")
Baum ("Puns," p. 236) suggests that Chaucer is using dressed
in a special way, "where the humorous twist is plain":
Damyan "addresses" May in a manner that should not be ex
pressed in courteous language.
20. strugle. (2376, Strugle' . 1 quod he, 'ye algate
in it wente' . ' " ) Huppe says that strugle "seems to have
both its literal and a sexual connotation" (Reading. p.
206) .
CHAPTER V
FRAGMENT V (GROUP F)
"Introduction to The Squire's Tale"
1. lust. (5-6, "With hertly wyl; for I wol nat
rebelle/ Agayn youre lust; a tale wol I telle.") When the
Host asks the Squire for a love tale, the Squire answers
quickly, "with al my heart— to the best of my ability; I
will not go against your desire (lust)." And when he adds
(lines 7-8), "Have me excused if I speke amys;/ My wyl is
good," he is not apologizing for his lack of skill. In
deed, Baum believes that the Squire is not indulging in a
coy and vain excuse; rather, says Baum, "he is expressing,
in his naturally courteous manner, his disapproval of the
inelegant tone and temper of the bourgeois Merchant, who
had just ended his tale. 'My wyl is good,' he says, with
a slight stress on the first word which those who have ears
to hear, catch and understand."'*' And I suggest that at line
1,1 Notes on Chaucer," MLN. XXXII (1917), 376.
78
79
6, with a double-entendre on lust. and with a slight stress
on youre. the Squire is registering further disapproval of
both the Merchant's tale and the Host's character.
"The Squire's Tale"
1. stile. style. (105-106, "A1 be it that I kan not
sowne his stile,/ Ne kan nat clymben over so heigh a
style.") In "The Pardoner's Tale" (712), stile is used to
mean "stile," in the modern sense; in "The Clerk's Pro
logue" (18, 41), it is used to mean "style," in the literary
sense. In lines 105-106, Baum suggests the "two words are
brought together to make an echo rime and a true pun"
("Puns," p. 245). This is one of those instances of confu
sion between pun and double-entendre.
2. lighte. (395-396, "But natheless it was so fair a
sighte/ That it made alle hire hertes for to lighte." Baum
says that Chaucer seems to imply both meanings of lighte:
"to make lighter in weight," and "to make brighter" ("Puns,"
p. 2.40) .
3. fulsomnesse. (404-405, "The savour passeth ever
lenger the moore,/ For fulsomnesse of his prolixitee.")
The Squire says that if a narrator delays in getting on to
the point of his story, the savor is lessened in proportion
to the delay. Fulsomnesse is used only once in Chaucer;
80
Baum ("Puns," p. 238) says that it probably means "full
ness" or "excess," and that this may be another example of
Chaucer's tautology. The OED gives a pejorative sense for
fulsomnesse: "repulsive," "odious," from the simple "full-
overfull" ; but the OED admits of the possibility of ful.
"foul," as etymon. If we allow fulsomnesse the definition
"repulsive," then the delay that the Squire talks about in
line 405 becomes a much more odious one.
4. coloures. (511, "So depe in greyn he dyed his
coloures) The word has several meanings in Chaucer. It
is used as a technical term of rhetoric (IV[e ]16), to indi
cate deception ("The Complaint Unto Pitee," 66), and here,
as a hue. The latter two meanings are combined in line 511,
with reference to the false tercelet. Skeat recognized
this double-entendre (Complete Works. V, 384).
"The Franklin's Prologue"
1. quevnte. (726, "Colours of rethoryk been to me
queynte.") Huppe sees a double-entendre:
Because "queynte" has been forced on our attention--even
in pointing this out it is difficult to avoid double
entendre— the Franklin's pretense to eloquence is put in
a ludicrous light: since he has not bedded himself on
Parnassus, he has had no commerce with the Muses; in
consequence rhetoric is "queynte" to him. (Reading. p.
164)
"The Franklin's Tale"
1. armes. (1091-1092, "That hast thy lusty housbonde
in thyne armes,/ The fresshe knyght, the worthy man of
armes.") Baum suggests that "there may be a slight touch
of sarcasm in the apostrophe, emphasized by the punning
repetition of armes" ("Puns," p. 225).
CHAPTER VI
FRAGMENT VI (GROUP C)
"The Physician's Tale"
1. forge. (12-14, "Thus kan I forme and peynte a
creature,/ Whan that me list; who kan me countrefete?/
Pigmalion noght, thogh he ay forge and bete.") Forge was
used in Chaucer's day, as it is today, in two primary
senses: "to form by heating and hammering" and "to make
or imitate falsely." The latter sense helps to underscore
the meaning of the passage: whoever would attempt to imi
tate Nature would have to do it falsely.
2. vevn. (16-18, "Apelles, Zanzis, sholde werche in
veyn/ Outher to grave, or peynte, or forge, or bete,/ If
they presumed me to countrefete.") These lines help to
extend what Nature has established in lines 12-14. Here
she speaks about Virginius1 daughter, whom, Nature says,
she has created so perfectly that no one may equal her
handiwork. Even the two sculptors, Apelles and Zanzis,
82
83
would work in vain (vevn) to attempt to copy her work. But
Nature also seems to intend a double-entendre on the second
meaning of vevn; Apelles and Zanzis would have to leave
their stone and marble and work in flesh, in veyn (vein), if
they ever hoped to copy her work.
3. cure. (22, "Right as me list, and ech thyng in my
cure is.") Cure means "supervision" or "spiritual care."
But Baum says that "since the story is told by the Physi
cian (cf. VI[c]305-307) readers who take such matters lit
erally will read the medical sense into cure" ("Suppl.," p.
167 ) .
4. venvsoun. (83-85, "A theef of venysoun, that hath
forlaft/ His likerousnesse and al his olde craft,/ Kan kepe
a forest best of any man.") The Physician uses this proverb
to support his belief that a woman who has known the "olde
daunce" and forsaken it is well equipped to teach virtue to
young ladies. From what we know of Chaucer's fondness for
using different kinds of meat in a sexual way (cf. III[d ]
418, IV[e ]1420, 1767), and for intending doubles-entendres
in venery. cf. 1(A)166 (the object of which is the meat,
the venison), and when we remember the impact of the lines
84
immediately preceding lines 83-85,^ we have good reason to
believe that Chaucer is using venvsoun. here, to mean some
thing more than the flesh of a deer.
"The Pardoner's Prologue"
1. qrotes. (376, "so that he offre pens, or elles
grotes) The Pardoner has just shown a mitten which, he
says, will bring to its wearer a beautiful harvest of
"whete or otes." Thus, the owner of this marvelous mitten
should offer up either pens. "pennies," "money," or grotes.
which Robinson glosses as "Dutch coins" (Works. p. 954).
But the Pardoner may be a bit playful here. Grotes. the
MED indicates, also meant grain which had been hulled,
ground, and converted into meal. The Pardoner, then, may
be asking to be paid in either spendable cash or in consum
able goods.
2. vdellv. (444-447, "I wol nat do no labour with
myne handes,/ Ne make baskettes, and lyve therby,/ By cause
I wol nat beggen ydelly./ I wol noon of the apostles coun
trefete.") The Pardoner says, do you think because I can
^"Or elles ye han falle in freletee,/ And knowen wel
ynough the olde daunce" (11. 78-79).
85
preach and get money by my teaching I will live in volun
tary poverty? No. I will preach and beg in various coun
tries. Baum ("Puns," p. 239) says this is the meaning sug
gested by Robinson's punctuation, but suggests that another
meaning would be possible and perhaps even clearer. The
sense of this new meaning would be: I will not, like the
Apostles, perform manual labor for my living, because I do
not choose to beg without profit— vainly, uselessly. Baum
admits, however, that this is not quite logical. He con
tinues, "what the Pardoner means is that he prefers to be
idle with his hands, unlike the Apostles, and practice his
special art of begging, which is not without profit, not
vain. The play is thus on the two senses of idle" ("Puns,"
p. 239) .
"The Pardoner's Tale"
1- croked. (761, "To fynde Deeth, turne up this
croked way.") The Old Man's ironic advice to the young
revelers, if they wish to find Death, is that they should
follow a t . 'rtain winding path. But the young men do not
realize just how ironic the Old Man's advice is, for croked
had in Chaucer's day our present-day figurative meaning,
"wrong," "misguided," "wicked," "sinful." And we learn
86
later in the tale that this is truly the "path" they follow.
Baum recognized this double-entendre ("Puns," p. 234).
2 . wolie. (909-910, "Boweth youre heed under this
hooly bulle'./ Cometh up, ye wyves, offreth of youre wollel")
In line 909 the Pardoner asks the repentant wives to bow
their heads under the papal seal, the bull, and in payment
for this salvation the Pardoner asks those wives to pay him
in wool. But this may be an opportune moment for Chaucer to
underscore the Pardoner's effeminacy that he hinted at in
"The General Prologue." And he has perhaps accomplished
this with doubles-entendres in both bulie and wo lie. The
MED tells us that in the thirteenth century bulle. or more
specifically, bole, referred not only to our modern "bull,"
but also to a "steer," a castrated bull. The Pardoner may
very well be a "holy bull" in that sense. And we may wonder
i-f there is not the same kind of double-entendre here in
wolie as we found in borel (III[d ]356), that is, that
"coarse woolly stuff" may refer to the pudendum of those
"sinful" wives back at line 910.
3. fundement. (948-950, "Thou woldest make me kisse
thyn olde breech,/ And swere it were a relyk of a seint,/
Though it were with thy fundement despeint'.") The line is
both religious and crude. The Host says that the Pardoner
87 -
would want him to kiss his underwear, his breech. as if it
were a Saint's relic, as if it were imbued with some kind
of foundation: "religious strength or faith" (fundement).
Or, the Pardoner may also be saying that he would like the
Host to kiss his breeches even though they were stained
with his feces (fundement).
CHAPTER VII
FRAGMENT VII (GROUP B2)
"The Shipman's Tale"
1. famulier. (31-32, "That in his [Shipman's] hous
as famulier was he/ As it is possible any freend to be.")
With the double-entendre here in famulier. already dis
cussed in connection with "The General Prologue." line 215,
Chaucer tells us a good deal about the Monk.
2. rvde. (65, "And eek an officer, and for to ryde.")
If we allow the double-entendre in ryde, discussed earlier
in the description of the Squire (i [a ]94), the line tells
us exactly what the Monk is up to.
3. beestes. (27 0-272, "for to lene me/ An hundred
frankes, for a wyke or tweye,/ For certein beestes that I
moste beye.") The Monk wants the Shipman to lend him some
money so that, he would like the Shipman to believe, he can
buy some beasts. But the reader knows that once the Monk
has the money, he will be able to seduce the Shipman's wife.
88
89
And through the double-entendre in beestes. which often
meant "human beings" in Chaucer's day, the Monk may be slyly
telling the Shipman his true intent. (See line 278, where
the double-entendre is perhaps even clearer, "For yet to-
nyght thrse beestes moot I b e y e )
4. chaffare. (283-285, "Now sikerly this is a smal
requeste./ My gold is youres, whan that it yow leste,/ And
nat oonly my gold, but my chaffare.") Robinson suggests
that chaf fare meant "merchandise," "wares" (Works, p. 938).
But the OED says that chaf fare was often used to refer
figuratively to anything valuable or desirable, such as
"love." The Shipman, as we have seen with other Chaucerian
characters, undoes himseIf: he offers his wife to the Monk.
5- cosvn. (364, "And fare wel, deere cosyn, til we
meete'.") This is Daun John's goodbye to the Shipman's wife.
The term cosvn was a term of endearment, but, as the MED
says, it also meant "prostitute." The Monk has just given
the Shipman's wife "an hundred frankes."
6 . taille. (416, "I am youre wyf; score it upon my
taille.") Robinson gives "'Score it on my tally'; 'charge
it to my account'" (Works. p. 733). Claude Jones says there
is a probable double-entendre here: "In Farmer and Henley's
Dictionary, tail is given as having the meaning 'the female
90
pudendum.'"^ This slang meaning of taille seems appropri
ate to "The Shipman's Tale.1 1 Huppe also noted the double-
entendre (Reading. p. 232).
7. crood. (432, "Keep bet my good, this yeve I thee
in charge.") To what kind of "good" is the Shipman refer
ring: his own property or his wife's belle chose? (Recall
the double-entendre or chaffare. line 285.)
8, taillvncre. (433-434, "Thus endeth now my tale,
and God us sende/ Taillynge ynough unto oure lyves ende.
Amen.") Again, Robinson makes a rather innocent comment
about the line: "Here, as in many of the Tales. the final
blessing is adapted to the story which precedes" (Works. p.
733). And again, Claude Jones explicates the tai llvncre
double-entendre. confusing it with pun: "... and at
present, and possibly in Chaucer's day, taillynge has the
meaning of 'sexual intercourse'" ("Taillynge," p. 57).
2
But Robert A. Caldwell disagrees with Jones. He finds
that the evidence which the context of "The Shipman's Tale"
gives for Jones's interpretation of taillvnoe is unmistak-
-*-"Chaucer' s Taillynge Ynough," p. 57
Chaucer's Taillynge Ynough. Canterbury Tales." p.
262 .
91
able; however, the interpretation does not make a double-
entendre of taillynge. for there is no evidence that the
verbal noun taillvnge was used in Chaucer 1s day to mean
"sexual intercourse." Caldwell says:
Rather than a pun [what is more correctly a double
entendre 1. taillvnge involves a subtleness of innuendo
that is artistically superior. When the Shipman--or
even better, the Wife of Bath— asked for "taillynge
ynough" his hearers were puzzled for the merest frac
tion of a .'econd; the pun on taille. made explicit by
b2i614, was still in their minds, so that they immedi
ately interpreted the narrator's blessing in light of
the household accounting employed by the Wife of the
merchant of Seint Denys. (pp. 264-265)
"The Tale of Sir Thopas"
1. scarlet in grayn. (727, "His rode is lyk scarlet
in grayn.") Robinson says the phrase means "cloth dyed
with grain, with cochineal" (Works. p. 738). But grayn
(MED) was often used in a figurative sense to refer to the
skin. When grayn referred to the complexion, it meant
"blemish on the skin," "spot," or "roughness of the skin,"
and even "pustule." The picture we get of Sir Thopas here
would certainly fit the mock-heroic description we get of
him elsewhere in the tale.
92
"The Tale of Sir Melibee"
1. reyn. (1084-1085, "Sire, thise wordes been under-
stonde of wommen that been jangleresses and wikked;/ Of
whiche wommen men seyn that thre thynges dryven a man out
of his hous,— that is to seyn, smoke, dropping of reyn, and
wikked wyves.") There may be a double-entendre in reyn,
for in the fourteenth century the word that referred to the
region of the loins or to the kidneys (the seat of emotions
in Ecclesiastical Latin, see Psalms 138, 12) was reynes.
The homonymic double-entendre is too inviting to pass up:
if a man's wife "drops her loins, lowers her loins," for
others, or if she loses her affection for her husband, he
will be forced out of his own house. This interpretation
seems to be supported in the next line of the tale, line
1086, "and of swiche wommen seith Salomon that 'it were
bettre dwelle in desert than with a womman that is riot
ous . ' "
2. prudence. (1513, "And in another place he [Solo
mon] seith that 'he that is pacient governeth hym be greet
prudence.") Apparently Chaucer intends a double-entendre
on the name of Melibius's wife, Prudence.
3. hoollv. (172 5, "for I putte my hoolly in youre
93
disposicioun and ordinaunce.") Melibius says this just
after Prudence has finished discussing religion and God
(1714-1724). We can wonder if Chaucer is intending a
double-entendre in holy/wholly. And again, at line 1740,
the double-entendre works equally well: "'we putten oure
dede and al oure matere and cause al hooly in youre goode
wyl.(We might note that at line 1765, a line which
reads almost exactly like line 1725, Chaucer eliminates
possible ambiguity, perhaps intentionally, by substituting
fully for hoollv: "Worshipful lady, we putten us and oure
goodes al fully in youre wi1 and disposicioun.'")
"The Prologue of The Monk's Tale"
1. governour. (1940, "But a governour, wily and
wys.") This line constitutes a small part of the Host's
description of the Monk. Robinson indicates the word ctov-
ernour is ambiguous: it "might refer either to a place of
authority in an ecclesiastical establishment or to a secu
lar position, like that of a governor in a royal palace"
(Works. p. 745). Chaucer's description of the Monk in "The
General Prologue" was also ambiguous— the Monk was both a
holy and a secular man.
"The Monk's Tale"
1. (2265-2268^ "and she koude eke/ Wrastlen, by verray
force and verray myght,/ With any yong man, were he hever so
wight,"/ Ther myghte no thyng in hir armes stonde.") These
lines can be read two ways: Cenobia was so strong that she
could overpower everyone and everything; "nothing stood a
chance in her arms"; or Cenobia was intent on remaining
chaste, and therefore "no one could remain in her arms."
(For the connotation of armes. see the discussion of line
l[A]2801.) The very next line, 2269, seems to underscore
the second reading: "She kepte hir maydenhod from every
wight"— that is, she protected her virginity from every man.
2. habit. (2343, "In kynges habit wente hir sones
two.") Habit referred to both "outward form," "appearance,"
and also to "clothing," "characteristic attire." We know
from the Monk's description of Cenobia that she is inter
ested in both form (2325) and clothes (2304).
"The Nun's Priest's Tale"
1. no lak. (2843-2844, "Hir bord was served moost
with whit and blak,--/ Milk and brown breed, in which she
foond no lak.") Robinson glosses the phrase to mean either
95
"with which she found no fault" or "of which she had
plenty" (Works. p. 7 52).
CHAPTER VIII
FRAGMENT VIII (GROUP G)
"The Canon's Yeoman's Prologue"
1. crafty. sly. (655, "Syn that he is so crafty and
so sly.") Robinson's note for this line says that "crafty
and slv here do not carry their present evil connotation"
(Works., p. 760) . Both the MED and the OED seem to contra
dict him. For crafty the MED does list a definition that is
evil: "sly," "cunning," "tricky," "deceitful." Likewise,
for the word slv. the OED says: "deceitful," "guileful,"
"wily." Obviously the evil connotations of both words would
fit the character of the Alchemist.
2. multinlie. (669, "But swynke soore and lerne mul-
tiplie.") Multiplie is the technical term for transmuting
metals into gold. Robinson sees a possible double-entendre
in the "multiplication of gold, in this sense, and the
original chemical sense of multiplication, which referred
to the fact that the strength of an elixir could be
96
97
multiplied by repeated operations" (Works. p. 760).
3. pouren. (670, "We blondren evere and pouren in
the fir.") This is the reason the Canon's Yeoman gives for
the redness in his face; that is, he (or they) gazes (pour
en ) into the fire. But considering the number of accidents
and repeated trials, Baum says that "pour" is possible
("Puns," p. 242). The interpretation becomes more believ
able, Baum says, if we use blondren in the sense of "mix"
(ON blanda): we blunder and stare; we mix and pour.
4. biered. (730, "And of my swynk yet blered is myn
ye.") The Canon's Yeoman's complaint is that his eyes get
"bleared" from the mixing of the chemicals. Tatlock sug
gests that the Yeoman's eyes are also bleared in that they
are "fooled" in his work ("Puns in Chaucer," p. 233).
i
"The Canon's Yeoman's Tale"
1. spirites. materes. (777-779, "Noght helpeth us,
oure labour is in veyn./ Ne eek oure spirites ascencioun,/
Ne oure materes that lyen al fix adoun.") The two words,
spirites and materes. refer, respectively, to the fumes
that rise during the alchemical process and to the sediment
that remains at the bottom of the equipment during that
same process. The Canon's Yeoman suggests that neither the
98
spirites nor the materes helped to transmute the lead into
gold. But spirites. in Chaucer's day, also referred to
one's emotional state, frame of mind; while materes. in
addition to its alchemical sense here, referred also to
one's corporeal being, one's body. Thus the Canon's Yeoman
may also be suggesting that neither his high spirits (spir
ites in ascensioun) nor his body (materes) could exert any
influence over the alchemical reaction.
2. medle. (1184-1185, "Now lat me medle therwith but
a while,/ For of yow have I pitee, by Seint Gile'.") These
are the Canon's instructions as he is about to switch coals
in the fire, pretending he has transmuted lead into gold.
The word medle fits well here, for it meant both "to mix,"
"to combine," (two or more things), and also "to mix fraudu
lently" (OED) .
CHAPTER IX
FRAGMENT IX (GROUP H)
"The Manciple's Prologue"
1. horn. (90, "And whan he hadde pouped in this
horn.") Robinson sees an unequivocal double-entendre here
on "the double meaning of horn, drinking horn and wind
instrument" (Works., P- 764).
"The Manciple's Tale"
1. lower thyna. (189-191, "For men han evere a liker-
ous appetit/ On lower thyng to parfourne hire delit/ Than on
hire wyves.") Lower thvnq refers, of course, to women of a
low moral character; but lower thyng may also refer to the
pudendum. This kind of double-entendre would certainly not
be much different from the earlier pun on nether ours (III
[D]446).
2. leyn. (222, "Men leyn that oon as lowe as lith
that oother.") Baum says "this is surely a play on lay and
Jig." ( " Suppl. , " p. 169).
99
CHAPTER X
FRAGMENT X (GROUP I)
"The Parson's Prologue"
1. degree. (18, "I trowe that we han herd of ech
degree.") The Host suggests that the Pilgrims have all
told their tales, while at the same time he suggests that
the Pilgrims have heard all different kinds of tales — from
the saint's life to the fabliau.
2. knvtte u p . (28, "Thou sholdest knytte up wel a
greet mateere.") Knvtte up refers to the other Canterbury
Tales. since it refers to the Parson's "capping off," "tying
up," the tales with his own tale. As the Parson says, he
will "knytte up al this feeste, and make an ende" (47). But
knytte u p . back at line 28, also looks forward to the Par
son's tale: the Host is asking the Parson to "Unbokele, and
shewe us what is in thy male" (26), that is, "weave us,"
"knit us," knvtte up. a good tale. (There may be further
meaning in what Harry Bailly says at line 28, to "knytte up
100
101
wel a greet mateere," for what the Parson does in telling
his tale is to liken the Pilgrims' earthly journey to
Canterbury to their spiritual journey to Jerusalem, lines
50-54. In a very real sense, then, the Parson "sums up,"
"caps off," knvttes u p . the Pilgrims' lives.)
3. sentence. (62-63, "For, as it seemed, it was for
to doone,/ To enden in som vertuous sentence.") Sentence
is a critical word, one that carries many levels of meaning
in the line. On its most obvious level the word means "sub
ject," and so the line simply indicates that the Pilgrims
wish the Parson to end the tales on some "virtuous," reli
gious subject. Less obviously, sentence may be interpreted
to mean, in this prose tale, merely "sentence," and the
Parson's tale does end that way, with a final, virtuous
sentence: "This blisful regne may men purchace by poverte
espirtueel, and the glorie by lowenesse, the plentee of joye
by hunger and thurst, and the rest by travaille, and the lyf
by deeth and mortificacion of synne" (1080).
"The Parson's Tale" '
1. quake. (158, "For, as Seint Jerome seith, 'At
every tyme that me remembreth of the day of doom I quake.")
There may be a double-entendre in quake. the shaking caused
102
by the action of the earth on that day: "'the erthe shal
casten hym out of hym, and the see also, and the eyr also,
that shal be ful of thonder-clappes and lightnynges1" (173).
2. goodes. (252, "For trust wel, 'he shal yeven
acountes,' as seith Seint Bernard, 'of alle the goodes that
han be yeven hym in this present lyf, and how he hath hem
despended.'") This line is part of the Parson's discussion
of the notion that man will lose all, that God will take
everything away, if man falls to sinning. The word goodes
is a proper one for the Parson to use, for it means not
only "virtues bestowed by God's grace," the MED says, but
also "property or wealth." The Parson is even more explicit
in line 776: "And thow shalt understonde that marchandise
is in manye maneres; that oon is bcdily, and that oother is
goostly."
3. unitee. (642, "And moore shame do they to Crist,
than dide they that hym crucifiede; for God loveth bettre
that freendshipe be amonges folk, than he dide his owene
body, the which that he yaf for unitee. Therfore been they
likned to the devel, that evere is aboute to maken dis
cord.") Christ died, the Parson says, to unify the people.
But the line has a religious reference buried in it, in the
word unitee. This word was used frequently, the OED says,
103
to refer to the Holy Trinity (this use as early as 1325).
Thus Christ gave his life not only to unify the people, but
to make more evident the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost.
4. crrave. (750, "'Thou shalt have no false goddes
bifore me, ne thou shalt make to thee no grave thyng.'" )
The Parson has just instructed against the holding of flor
in, for "every floryn in his [man's] cofre is his mawmet"
(748). He follows this, in line 750, with what he says is
God's first commandment. The MED gives as a gloss for grave
thyng "an idol," but possibly after the mention in line 748
of the floryn. the Parson may be suggesting an "engraved"
(graven means "to carve or engrave") object, specifically
money.
5. heved/hevedes. (921-922, "And that oother is for
a man is heved of a womman; algate, by ordinaunce it sholde
be so./ For if a .womman hadde no men than oon, thanne
sholde she have moo hevedes than oon, and that were an
horrible thyng biforn God.") The first time the Parson
uses heved he uses it to mean "superior position." The
second time he uses it he may be intending a double-entendre
in the word's figurative meaning, "superior position," and
104
its literal meaning, "head." A several-headed women would
indeed by a horrible thing before God.
CONCLUSION
This study of Chaucer's doubles-entendres in The Can
terbury Tales glosses 204 examples, of which 114, or 56 per
cent, are suggestive in varying degrees. Of the 204
doubles-entendres. 146 are up to this time either unrecog
nized or unpublished by Chaucerian scholars. Fifty-eight
are either from similar rhetorical studies of The Canterbury
Tales or from articles on specific tales. Sixteen of the
204 represent either expansion on or revisions of already
recognized doubles-entendres.
A more detailed analysis of each Fragment shows the
following distribution:
Doubles-
entendres
A Fragment
"The General Prolocrue"
"The Knight's Tele"
"The Miller's Prologue and Tale"
"The Reeve's Prologue and Tale"
"The Cook's Prologue and Tale"
38
17
13
11
5
105
106
Doubles-
entendres
B~*~ Fragment
"The Man of Law's Introduction. Prologue.
and Tale" 9
D Fragment
"The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale" 19
"The Friar’s Prologue and Tale" 4
"The Summoner's Prologue and Tale" 12
E Fragment
"The Clerk's Prologue and Tale" 4
"The Merchant's Prologue and Tale" 23
F Fragment
"The Squire's Introduction and Tale" 6
"The Franklin's Prologue and Tale" 2
C Fragment
"The Physician's Tale" 4
"The Pardoner's Introduction. Prologue.
and Tale" 6
p
B Fragment
"The Shipman's Tale" 8
"The Prioress's Prologue and Tale" 0
"The Prologue and Tale of Sir Thopas" 1
"The Prologue and Tale of Melibee" 4
"The Monk's Prologue and Tale" 2
"The Nun's Priest's Prologue and Tale" 1
G Fragment
"The Second Nun's Prologue and Tale" 0
"The Canon's Yeoman's Prologue and Tale" 8
107
Doubles-
entendres
H Fragment
"The Manciple's Prologue and Tale" 3
I Fragment
"The Parson's Prologue and Tale" 9
"Chaucer's Retraction" 0
We find doubles-entendres in all but two of The Canter
bury Tales: "The Prioress's Prologue and Tale," and "The
Second Nun's Prologue and .Tale." There are also no doubles-
entendres in "Chaucer's Retraction."^
One further observation is to be made: the greatest
percentage of suggestive doubles-entendres occurs in those
tales where we would expect to find them— in the tale of
the Shipman, 100 per cent; in the Wife of Bath's bawdy Pro
logue . 90 per cent; in the Reeve's fabliau, 88 per cent; in
the Miller's fabliau, 89 per cent; in the acerb tale of the
Merchant, 83 per cent; and in the Summoner's tale, 75 per
•krhere seems to be no reason for the absence of
doubles-entendres here. The question of Chaucer's reasons
for not exploiting doubles-entendres in these places seems
to lie outside the scope of this paper. We should instead
concern ourselves with those tales in which Chaucer did
play on words, and perhaps determine the appropriateness of
the doubles-entendres to the tale.
108
cent.
"The Merchant's Tale" is of special interest, for the
main character in that tale, January, is really the only
one of Chaucer's characters who is drawn with a bitter,
satiric pen. Other characters are only mildly satirized.
Huppe describes January:
. . . the old husband, whose nastiness has not even the
grace of animal instincts, whose lust must be whetted by
erotic fantasy and supported by aphrodisiacs. We have
laughed at the old carpenter and at the Wife of Bath's
faceless old husbands. Their counterpart, old January,
should freeze the smile into a grimace of disgust.
(Reading. pp. 147-148)
Perhaps because Chaucer wanted to emphasize the strongly
lecherous character of January, we find twenty-three
doubles-entendres in "The Merchant's Tale," nineteen of
which are suggestive. The tale is second to no other in its
number of doubles-entendres. and also second to no other in
its number of sexual doubles-entendres.
B I B L I O G R A P H Y
109
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I N D E X
114
INDEX
allye, p. 42
argument, pp. 44-45
arrr es, p. 81
arf-metrike, p. 64
bacon, pp. 6 0-61
bailly, pp. 59-60
beef, pp. 60-61
beestes, pp. 88-89
bisynesse, pp. 58-59
blered, p. 97
bolt upright, p. 44
bond, p. 69
borel, pp. 54-55
brotel, p. 70
bulle, p. 86
camaille, p. 6 7
ceriously, pp. 47-48
chaffare, p. 89
chamberere, p. 66
cheste, pp. 52-53
chevyssaunce, p. 23
clause, pp. 26-27, 48
clynken, pp. 5 0-51
coloures, p. 80
colours, pp. 6 5-66
condescended, pp. 73-74
confort, p. 27
corage, pp. 71-72
cost, pp. 18-20
cosyn, p. 89
coupled, p. 74
cours, p. 34
coy, pp. 13-14
crafty, p. 96
croked, pp. 85-86
crowned, p. 15
cure, pp. 59, 83
daliance, p. 58
dasi-berd, p. 24
daungerous, p. 58
degree, pp. 31, 66-67, 100
disport, pp. 27, 75
dressed, p. 77
ende, p. 49
eructavit, p. 63
ese, p. 53
famulier, pp. 20-2 1, 88
faste, pp. 37-38
folie, p . 41
forge, p. 82
fruyt, pp. 53, 69-70, 76-77
fulsomnesse, pp. 79-80
fundement, pp. 86-87
game, pp. 32-33, 35, 36-37,
45, 59
gauded, pp. 14-15
gay, pp. 12-13, 37
glosynge, pp. 61-62
good, p. 90
goodes, p. 102
good felawe, p. 24
governour, p. 93
grave, p. 103
grene, pp. 14-15, 29-30
grenehede, p. 47
grope, p. 62
grotes, p. 84
grounded, p. 25
115
116
habit, p. 94
herte, p. 28
heved, pp. 103-104
hevedes, pp. 103-104
hoolly, pp. 92-93
hoor, p. 40
hoote, p. 41
horn, p. 99
housbondrye, p. 7 0
inspired, p. 12
knyt, pp. 70-71
knytte up, pp. 100-101
kyng, pp. 48-49
laas, pp. 3 0-31
large, p. 33
leyn, p. 99
licenciat, pp. 21-22
lighte, p. 79
likerous, pp. 55-56
love-dayes, pp. 22-23
lower thyng, p. 99
lust, pp. 78-79
lymes, p . 71
mannyssh wood, p. 7 3
materes, pp. 97-98
medle, p. 98
merye, pp. 17-18
mete, p. 74
multiplie, pp. 96-97
myrie, pp. 27-28
myrth, p. 28
nether purs, pp. 52-53
no lak, pp. 94-9 5
noble post, p. 20
nycetee, p. 55
nyfles, p. 61
overmacche, pp. 67-68
panne, p . 42
passant, p. 32
philosophre, pp. 23-24
place, pp. 33-34
pleye, pp. 28, 29, 37, 39,
45
point, pp. 32, 43
pouren, p. 97
poynt, pp. 17, 29
praktisour, pp. 25-26
priketh, p. 28
prikke, p. 49
prikyng, p. 17
prudence, pp. 92-93
pryvetee, pp. 36, 38-39, 63-64
purchas, p. 22
Pyn, pp. 72-7 3
quake, pp. 101-102
queynte, pp. 30, 33-34, 39,
43, 58, 76, 80
quite, p. 36
rebellyng, p. 34
rede, p. 6 0
refresshed, pp. 54, 61
rente, p. 22
reverence, p. 14
reyn, p. 92
ribible, pp. 45-46
ridyng, p. 45
Rouncivale, p. 26
rouncy, p. 24
ryde, pp. 12, 43-44, 88
save, p. 60
scarlet in grayn, p. 91
seculeer, pp. 68-69
sentence, p. 101
sly, p. 96
solempne, pp. 17-18
spille, p. 48
spirites, pp. 97-98
stile, p. 79
strokes, p. 38
strugle, p. 77
stryvyng, p. 6 3
style, p. 79
taille, pp. 89-90
taillynge, pp. 90-91
tale, p. 55
tappe, p. 41
tayl, pp. 40-41, 56-58, 75-76
thombe of gold, p. 26
unitee, pp. 102-103
venerie, -pp. 15-17
117
venysoun, pp. 83-84
veyn, pp. 82-83
vital strengthe, pp. 34-35
wake, pp. 39-40, 63, 74-75
waked, p. 44
waken, pp. 49-50
wantowne, pp. 17-18
withouten, p. 26
wolle, p. 86
worthy, pp. 20-2 1, 68
wrastlen, p. 94-
ycoupled, pp. 67-68
ydelly, pp. 84-85
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Double-Entendres In 'The Canterbury Tales'
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