Igrayne - Glossary

GLOSSARY

A note on spelling: This is a modern preoccupation. The generation which thinks that the opposite of "win" is "loose" may end this pedantry. Was the castle spelled "Tyntagil" or "Tyntigayll"? In truth it was spelled "whatever." At the time, only Latin words had spellings, and no one was careful about those. I have chosen *one* spelling used by Malory, but he used others. The words here are those not recognized by my spell checker. Minus a few, "fluffery," e.g., whose meaning you know without the word having entered English. Also minus the second person singular forms. Plus a few, "tilt," e.g., which may be recognized by the spell checker for a different meaning.

Amain: Vigorously.

Areolae: (pl) The darker-colored flesh on the breasts around the nipples.

Arrow Slit: Castle keeps have *THICK* walls. If you cut a window straight through them, men might be able to enter, but sunlight from a different angle could not. What we did was cut a tall, very narrow, slit on the outside. Then we widened it out at an angle, called the EMBRASURE, towards the inside. It let a certain amount of light in and kept most missiles out. An archer could also stand in the embrasure and shoot out.

Bailey: see Castle

Bolster: A long, thick pillow that is placed under other pillows for support.

Brastias: A knight serving the Duke of Tyntigayll. Sir Ulfius was disguised as Sir Brastias.

Butt: A target, especially for archery.

Castle: Technically, any fortified point. The castles under discussion here were the full versions. They consisted of a KEEP or DONJON, the inner, hardened, multi-story, central fortification. People lived there at all times. The INNER BAILEY was surrounded by a tall curtain wall. The donjon was on one side, and various stables, storehouses, etc. were set around the central area. Anything portable of military importance was permanently housed in the inner bailey. If the enemy was in your inner bailey you were in trouble. The OUTER BAILEY, was on the natural approach to the inner bailey and the only way to enter it. (It could totally surround the inner bailey, but this was not usual.) Much economically and agriculturally important activity occurred in the outer bailey. The surrounding curtain walls were high enough to resist a raid and require a siege to take them. The entrance to either bailey was through a GATEHOUSE which contained the gate (Surprised?) and was a tower built above the level of the wall so as to be held independent of it. The gate, proper, was on the inside so that people chopping at it could be entertained by 20lb rocks, arrows, the contents of chamber pots, boiling water, and other mementos dropped on them. See also Portcullis

Casus belli: (A sure sign of a limited spellchecker.) The occasion or opportunity for the war. Sometimes given as "cause of war," it is a false cognate. The cause of the war might be "If the Allies don't win soon, our Allied bonds will be wallpaper," or "Our King wants to bed the woman that this Duke has inconveniently wed." The casus belli would be something more fitting. Perhaps "The vicious Huns have sunk a liner," or "The Duke's departure was an insult to our amour propre that can only be cleansed by blood."

Clip: To hug.

De trop: Superfluous.

Destrier: Imagine that you are a quadruped. They array you with heavy gear and then hoist a man twice his natural weight in armor on your back. Then they point you at a large group of equally burdened quadrupeds with screaming riders trotting toward you fronted by very sharp lance points. Do you go: 1) directly forward at a trot as steady as the ground allows or 2) elsewhere? The second option occurs even to horses. So we train them for war and call the trained results "destriers." We don't want to waste them, and their single pace is neither efficient nor restful on a journey. We ride PALFREYS for travel and mount the destriers only for battle.

Donjon: see Castle

Duchy: A dukedom.

Ector: Sir Ector fostered Arthur. His wife was Arthur's wet nurse.

Embrasure: see Arrow Slit

Ensorcelled: Affected by magic, glamoured.

Ere: Before.

Fingerbreadth: The width of a finger.

Foregate: The area just outside the gate.

Forwent: Abstained.

Futterings: Activities on topic in these newsgroups (alt.sex.*).

Garde-robe: We deterred moths from laying eggs in our (woolen) clothes by hanging said clothes in our latrine rooms. Of course, some dull historians claim that small rooms in our walls used as clothes closets were properly garde-robes, and that latrine rooms were called that as mere euphemisms. Ask yourselves: "Who was there?" and "When was the last time that one of these dull historians posted a story on a.s.s that curled your fingers, let alone your toes?"

Gatehouse: see Castle

Gladsome: Causing joy.

Glamoured: Fooled by magic.

Haft: Handle or hilt.

Igrayne: Duchess of Tyntigayll. Later Queen of Britain.

Jordanus: Knight of the Duke of Tyntigayll. Merlyn's disguise.

Joust: see Tilt (The 'o' is silent.)

Keep: see Castle

Laved: Washed.

List: see Tilt

Mage: Seer, Magician, Adept.

Mead: Drink, brewed from honey. Think beer.

Merlyn: Mage who brought me into Igrayne's bed at Castle Tyntigayll. In return he received control of Arthur's fostering and education. The latter got him a nice sinecure much later.

Milady & Milord: Yes we spoke that way. A baron could whip his wife with a horsewhip, and some did. No baron addressed his wife tutoyant.

Nonce: Short while

Palfrey: Horse for riding when not in combat. see Destrier

Passage: see Tilt

Portcullis: A grillwork (usually) that could be raised and lowered at the front (or outer) end of the gatehouse. Lowered on its rope, it provided another obstacle to overcome in capturing a route into the castle. If the rope were *cut* the portcullis crashed down. This discommoded those in its way and could be used to trap a small party inside the gatehouse where they could be attacked from above. see Castle.

Quim: The female pudenda.

Recurved: A good longbow is made from wood that curves one way and then is strung to curve the other. Cut the string, or even unstring the bow, and the arc reverses.

Sally: While the besieging army is busy digging ditches, serving the siege engines, raiding the surrounding country for supplies, etc., the besieged army quietly gathers a force of armored, armed, (preferably mounted) knights and men at arms. Then they sneak out a side door (a "sally port") and fall on a portion of besiegers. If they have the self-discipline to stop while they are ahead, they can almost always score a minor victory. "Sally" is both a noun and a verb.

Skald: A Scandinavian bard. One of rare training and precision. (Skald/bard is equivalent to chef/cook.)

Straitly: Tightly, closely.

Swiving: Activity on topic in these newsgroups (alt.sex.*).

Targe: A shield, usually a small one.

Terrabyl: The second castle of the Duchy of Tyntigayll. The Duke holed up there and we besieged it.

Tilt: Joust. Two men, who usually don't have any quarrel with each other, get on expensive horses wearing very expensive armor and ride towards each other along opposite sides of a rail fence pointing sharp lances at one another. They do this until one is knocked off his horse or both horse and rider are knocked down. After a certain age, it gets hard to remember why. The place where this takes place is called the LISTS. One ride at each other is called a PASSAGE.

Tyntigayll: A castle, well made. A Duke, ill bred. A duchy.

Ulfius: Sir Ulfius was a faithful and intelligent retainer of mine.

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