ORMIN.-ABOUT 1215. Regarding ORMIN (or shortly ORM), we have no information beyond what is contained in his work, the Ormulum. He was a canon regular of the order of St Augustine; and, from his language, we may fix his abode in or near the county of Nottingham. The Ormulum 'Thiss boc iss nemmnedd Orrmulum Forrthi thatt Orrm itt wrohhte' may be dated at 1215, the year of the Great Charter. It is a metrical version of the Gospels, or portions of the New Testament, that were read in church in the service of each day, together with doctrinal and practical explanations, also in verse. Though containing 20,000 lines, it yet reaches no further than the 32d daily service, which is but the merest fragment. The aim of the book was to spread religious knowledge among the people. In his homilies, or expositions, Ormin borrows largely from other writers. His spelling, which is elaborately careful, is a remarkable feature of his writings. Icc hafe wennd inntill Englissh I have turned into English The Gospel's holy lore, 1 Faith. 2 Appointed. Affterr thatt little witt tatt me Min Drihhtin hafethth lenedd. Thu thohhtest tatt itt mihhte wel Till mikell frame turrnenn, Ziff Ennglissh follk, forr lufe off Crist, 20 Itt wollde gerne lernenn, And follzhen itt, and fillenn itt Withth thohht, withth word, withth dede. After that little wit3 that me My Lord hath lent. Thou thoughtest that it might well To mickle profit turn, If English folk, for love of Christ, It would earnestly learn, And follow it, and fulfil it With thought, with word, with deed. And forrthi zerrndesst tu thatt And for that yearnedst thou 3. Crisstenndom (like Ger. Christenthum) is the condition or position of Christians as such; the faith and profession of Christians; Christianity. The modern meaning is different: the area or extent of country where Christianity is professed; Christian lands, collectively. 4. trowwthe, truth, is trowing or believing; belief, faith. 7. witt, or wit, we two, a dual form for the 1st pers. pron. The gen. was 'uncer;' dat. 'unc;' acc. 'unc (unnc)' occurs below (27). There was also a dual for the 2d pers. pron.; nom. 'git (3itt),' gen. 'incer (3unnker),' dat. and acc. 'inc (3unnc).' These dual forms did not outlive the 13th century. 8. Rezhell, older English and Germ. regel; Lat. regula: rule. 10. Sannt Awwstin, Aurelius Augustinus, usually called St Augustine, the greatest of the Latin fathers. He was born in Numidia, 354 A.D., was ordained Bishop of Hippo in 395, and died at Hippo Regius (near modern Bona), on the coast of Numidia, in 430. 12. Te, for the. It is one of Ormin's spelling notions to change initial th into t after words (in the same line) ending in d, dd, t, or tt. There are occasional exceptions; as thurrh, line 4. 13. Wennd, turned, translated; past part. of 'wendenn,' to wend, go, turn, change. 14. Goddspell, god-spell, good speech, good tidings. 'Spellenn' is 'to declare' or 'preach.'-Lare, lore, learning, teaching, instruction. And whase wilenn shall thiss And whoso shall will this Himm bidde icc that het write Him bid I that he it write All thwerrt ut affterr thatt itt All throughout after that it under a Frenchified orthography.'(Earle.) 108. Ma35. Ormin is the first writer to use the softened 33 at the end of a word after a vowel.- -Nohht byand-by becomes 'not.'- -Elless, else, lit. of other,' a genitive form. THE AUTHOR OF THE ORMULUM. (From the Ormulum.) Icc thatt tiss Ennglissh hafe I that this English have sett Ennglisshe menn to lare, 321 set English men to lore, Icc wass thær thær I crisstnedd I was there where I christened After studying Sir JOHN MANDEVILLE was born at St Albans in 1300. medicine for some time, he went abroad in 1322, and passed thirty-four years travelling in the East. He died at Liège in 1371. On his return to England in 1356, he wrote an account of his travels. The facts that he saw with his own eyes are intermixed with very wild fictions that he heard related. THE AUTHOR, HIS TRAVELS, AND HIS BOOK. (From the Prologue to the Voiage and Travaile.) And for als moche as it is longe tyme passed that ther was no generalle passage ne1 vyage over the see; and many men desiren for to here speke of the Holy Lond, and han therof gret solace and comfort; I John Maundevylle, knyght, alle be it I be not worthi, that was born in Englond, in the town of Seynt Albones, passede the see, in the zeer of our Lord Jhesu Crist MCCCXXII., in the day of Seynt Michelle; and hidre to2 have been longe tyme over the see, and have seyn3 and gon thorghe manye dyverse londes, and many provynces and kingdomes and iles; and have passed thorghout Turkye, Tartarye, Percye,1 Surrye,5 1 Nor. 2 Hitherto. 3 Seen. 4 Persia. 5 Syria. Arabye, Egypt the highe and the lowe, ErmonyeR the litylle and the grete; thorgh Lybye, Caldee, and a gret partie of Ethiope; thorgh Amazoyne, Inde the lasse and the more, a gret partie; and thorghout many othere iles, that ben abouten Inde; where dwellen many dyverse folkes, and of dyverse maneres and lawes, and of dyverse schappes9 of men. Of whiche londes and iles, I schalle speke more pleynly hereaftre. And I schal devise 10 you sum partie of thinges that there ben, whan time schalle ben, aftre it may best come to my mynde; and specyally for hem that wille and are in purpos for to visit the holy citee of Jerusalem, and the holy places that are thereaboute. And I schalle telle the weye that thei schulle holden thidre. For I have often tymes passed and ryden the way, with gode companye of many lordes: God be thonked. And gee schulle undirstonde that I have put this boke out of Latyn into Frensch, and translated it azen out of Frensche into Englyssch, that every man of my nacioun may undirstonde it. But lordes and knyghtes and othere noble and worthi men, that connell Latyn but litylle, and han ben bezonde the see, knowen and undirstonden, zif I seye trouthe or no, and zif I erre in devisynge, for forzetynge, or elles ; 12 that thei mowe 13 redresse it and amende it. For thinges passed out of longe tyme from a mannes mynde or from his syght, turnen sone into forzetynge; because that mynde of man ne may not ben comprehended ne withholden, for the freeltee 14 of mankynde. • Shapes. 7 Amazonia. 8 India the less and the greater. 6 Armenia. 10 Describe, relate. NOTES. It is longe tyme passed, &c. Nearly three-quarters of a century earlier, the Crusades had ended with the fall of Acre in 1291. Desiren and other verbs in this passage shew the 3d plur. pres. indic. in en (Midland dialect). Alle be it, albeit, although. The day of Seynt Michelle. Michaelmas 29. Пles, isles. Usually derived from O. Fr. isle (Mod. Fr. ile), from Lat. insula; yet the Old High Germ. has isila. 'Island' perhaps gets the s from 'isle:' the old form is 'ea-land,' later, 'eilond' (water-land); cf. Ger. eiland. 'Ile,' without the s, is found for more than a century later: see extract from Fortescue. Amazoyne, the country of the Amazons, on the south coast of the Black Sea, about the modern Trebizond. Citee, on the way to become 'city.' The classical Lat. civitatem became, in vulgar speech, citatem, whence Fr. cité. Amende, Fr. amender, from Lat. emendare (from e, ex, out of, and menda, fault, blemish), to free from faults, correct. |