Oxford.
"_To jump for joy._"--This expression, now most often used figuratively,
was probably in the olden time a plain and literal description of an actual
fact. The _Anglo-Norman Poem on the Conquest of Ireland by Henry II._,
descriptive of events which occurred at the close of the twelfth century,
informs us (at p. 53.) that one of the English knights, named Maurice de
Prendergast, being desirous of returning with his followers to Wales, was
impeded in his march by "les traitres de Weyseford;" and that this so much
provoked him, that he tendered his services to the King of Ossory, who--
"De la novele esteit heistez,
E de joie saili a pes."
This expression, "saili a pes," is translated in the Glossary "rose upon
feet;" but the more correct rendering of it appears to me to be that of
jumping or dancing for joy.