Chaucer and c99p; open thread

Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canturbury Tales" included "The Miller's Tale", which is unavoidably, though allegedly erroneously, brought to mind by this charming little ditty:

Never well off, he did eventually acquire a patron, King Henry IV. No longer living hand to mouth, he still found it necesssary to remind said patron that he was living year to year, and was up for and in need of a renewal of his fiscal sustenance, thusly:


The Complaint of Chaucer to his Purse

To yow, my purse, and to noon other wight
Complaine I, for ye be my lady dere.
I am so sory now that ye be light,
For certes but if ye make me hevy chere,
Me were as leef be leyd upon my bere,
For which unto your mercy thus I crye
Beth hevy ageyn or elles mot I dye.

Now voucheth-sauf this day er it be night
That I of yow the blisful soun may here,
Or see your colour lyke the sonne bright
That of yelownesse hadde never pere.
Ye be my lyf, ye be myn hertes stere,
Quene of comfort and of good companye,
Beth hevy ageyn or elles mot I dye.

Now purse that been to me my lyves lyght
And saveour as doun in this worlde here
Out of this toune help me thurgh your might
Sin that ye wole nat been my tresorere
For I am shave as nye as any frere;
But yet I prey unto your curtesye,
Beth hevy ageyn or elles mot I dye.

Lenvoy de Chaucer

O conquerour of Brutes Albyoun
Which that by line and free eleccioun
Been verray king, this song to yow I sende,
And ye that mowen alle oure harmes amende
Have minde upon my supplicacioun.

Like Chaucer, this site survives on patronage, yours. Thus, like Chaucer, the site forced to beseech you, its patrons, to fill its purse. It is up in the upper left corner, buttons and information on donating. On its behalf, I, your humble scrivener, thank you. Gracias.

Now, let's rock

Photo is of a frontspiece from The British Library

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riverlover's picture

One can see nascent newer English, some of which is only detectable being read aloud because of a lazy spelling (no rules yet).

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

enhydra lutris's picture

@riverlover
translation from the original into modern typeface. I can't help but wonder what is missing or added. My memory tells me that it should be "hys purse" and a search on duckduckgo turns up a sample paragraph making much more use of the y:

Complayne I, for ye be my lady dere! I am so sory, now that ye been lyght; For certes but yf ye make me hevy chere, Me were as leef be leyd upon my bere;

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

riverlover's picture

@enhydra lutris and Y's scattered about hence? I can see some logic there. Alas, no etymology studies for me in college!

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

enhydra lutris's picture

@riverlover
I cribbed a version more in line with my memory from https://88poetry.blogspot.com/2008/04/complaint-of-chaucer-to-his-purse.... and pasted it below. It looks like y is both y and the long I, and I is first person singular while i is short i, but not completely. Then again, I'm not at all sure of pronunciation back then, either.

To yow, my purs, and to noon other wyght
Complayne I, for ye be my lady dere!
I am so sory, now that ye been lyght;
For certes but yf ye make me hevy chere,
Me were as leef be leyd upon my bere;
For which unto your mercy thus I crye,
Beth hevy ayeyn, or elles mot I dye!

Now voucheth sauf this day or hyt be nyght,
That I of yow the blisful soun may here,
Or se your colour lyk the sonne bryght
That of yelownesse had never pere.
Ye be my lyf, ye be myne hertes stere,
Quene of comfort and of gode companye;
Beth hevy ayeyn, or elles mot I dye!

Now purs that ben to me my lyves lyght
And saveour as doun in this worlde here,
Out of this toune helpe me thurgh your myght,
Syn that ye wole nat ben my tresorere;
For I am shave as nye as any frere.
But yet I prey unto youre curtesye,
Beth heavy ayeyn, or elles mot I dye!

Lenvoy de Chaucer

O conqueror of Brutes Albyon,
Which that by lyne and fre eleccion
Ben verray kyng, this song to yow I sende;
And ye, that mowen alle oure harmes amende,
Have mynde upon my supplicacioun.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Bollox Ref's picture

Beaufort Signature_0.jpeg

Spelling (as has been noted) wasn't consistent in those days.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

enhydra lutris's picture

@Bollox Ref
evening.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Bollox Ref's picture

@enhydra lutris

Hopefully this is a better view of the translation:

Beaufort Signature2.jpg

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

enhydra lutris's picture

@Bollox Ref

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0 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --