(Vol. iii., pp. 388. 420.)
_The Armorican Word "Menez."_
I have been induced, in consequence of the scene of one of the
_Canterbury Tales_ being
"In _Armorike_ that called is Bretaigne,"
to re-examine that tale (the Frankleine's) in the expectation that in
it, if anywhere, some light might be thrown upon this newly discovered
Chaucerian word "menez"; and I think I have succeeded in detecting its
use in the sense of _points_ or _summits_ of _rocks_ emerging from the
surface of the water.
But in weighing the probability of this being the true sense in which it
is used in the present instance by Chaucer, the wide applicability of
the word "means" in its usual acceptation of _instrument to an end_,
must not be lost sight of. There is scarcely the name of any one thing
for which "means" may not be made a plausible substitution; so much so,
that if a man were to ask for a hat to cover his head, his demand would
be quite intelligible if expressed by "a means" to cover his head.
I make this proviso as an answer to the probable objection, that
"menes," in its usual acceptation, gives sufficiently good sense to the
passage in question; it may do so, and still not be the sense intended
by the author.
The footing on which I wish to place the inquiry is this:
1st. We have an _Armorican_ word which it is desirable to prove was
known to, and used by, Chaucer.
2dly. We find this identical word in a tale written by him, of which the
scene is _Armorica_.
3dly. It bears, however, a close resemblance to another word of
different meaning, which different meaning happens also to afford a
plausible sense to the same passage.
The question then is, in case this latter meaning should not appear to
be better, nor even so good, as that afforded by the word of which we
are in search, shall we not give that word the preference, and thereby
render it doubly blessed, giving and receiving light?
In coming to a decision, it is necessary to take in the whole context.
Arviragus and Dorigene live in wedded happiness, until the former,
leaving his wife, takes shipping
---- "to gon and dwelle a yere or twaine
In Englelond, that cleped was _eke_ Bretaigne."
Dorigene, inconsolable at his loss, sits upon the sea-shore, and views
with horror the "grisly, fendly, rockes," with which the coast is
studded, in every one of which she sees certain destruction to her
husband in his return. She accuses the gods of injustice in forming
these rocks for the sole apparent purpose of destroying man, so favoured
in other respects, and she concludes her apostrophe in these words,--
"Than, semeth it, ye had a gret chertee
Toward mankind; but how then may it be
That ye such _men[=e]s_ make, it to destroyen,
Which _men[=e]s_ don no good but ever anoyen?"
Undoubtedly, in the third of these lines, "menes" seems to have a
perfectly good meaning in the sense of instrument, or _means_ to
destroy. But, in the last line, the same sense is not so obvious--"means
to destroy" must _necessarily_ be destructive, and Chaucer would never
be guilty of the unmeaning truism of repeating--"means which do no good
but ever annoy."
Moreover, I am not aware that the accent is ever thrown upon the silent
_e_ where the signification of "mene" is an instrument--
"She may be Godd[=e]s mene and Godd[=e]s whippe"--
but in the lines under discussion the last syllable in both cases is
accented, agreeing in that respect with the _Armorican sound_--"menez."
Let us now examine whether the Armorican _sense_ is capable of giving a
perfect meaning to _both_ lines? That sense is, a rocky ridge or
emerging summit. Let us substitute the word _rock[=e]s_ for _men[=e]z_,
and then try what meaning the passage receives.
"If, quoth Dorigene, ye love _mankind_ so well ----
---- ---- ----- how then may it be
That ye such _rock[=e]s_ make, _it_ to destroyen,
Which _rock[=e]s_ don no good but ever anoyen?"
Here the sense is perfect in both lines--a sense, too, that is in exact
keeping with Dorigene's previous complaint of THE USELESSNESS of these
rocks--
"That semen rather a foule confusion
Of werk, than any faire creation
Of swiche a parfit wis[=e] God and stable;
Why have ye wrought this work unreasonable?
For by this werk, north, south, ne west, ne est,
There n'is yfostred man, ne brid, ne best;
_It doth no good_, to my wit, _but anoyeth_."
I therefore propose the following as the true reading of the passage in
question: viz.,
---- "Ye had a great chertee
Toward mankind; but how then may it be
That ye swiche menez make, it to destroyen,
Which menez don no good, but ever anoyen?"
And if I have succeeded in making good this position we no longer stand
in need of a precedent for the same reading in the case of--"In menez
libra."