The word seems to be used without any definite suggestion of colour
in such phrases as 'des espaces vermeils' (_Plein Ciel_), 'quand le
satyre fut sur la cime vermeille' (_Le Satyre_), 'des arbres
vermeils' (of trees lit up by the setting sun) (_Le Crapaud_).
The word is used with a bold extension of meaning in _Les Voix
Intérieures: A Eugène_, where the appetite of boyhood is called
'l'appétit vermeil.'
_dromon_, mediaeval warship, worked by oars and sail, the ancestor
of the galley. The word is also used, as apparently here, for
merchantmen.
_Béarnais_, inhabitant of Béarn, the province in the Pyrenees from
which Henri IV came.
_Turcs_. This is of course a mistake for Saracens or Moors. The word
occurs in the original poem, Jubinal copied it, and Hugo copied
Jubinal. The original, it maybe noted, had 'trente mille Turcs,'
Jubinal cut them down to 'vingt mille.' Hugo's 'vingt mille' is
another detail which shows that his poem is based on Jubinal's
adaptation.
_preux_. The Old French adjective meant 'valiant.' At the present
time the word is only used in the phrase _preux chevalier. Preux_ as
a noun is rare, but de Vigny has 'Charlemagne et ses preux.'
_je ne farde guère_: I speak without affectation. _Farder_ used
absolutely in this way is rare.
_rendus_: knocked up, overdone.
_arbalètes_, crossbows.
L. 80, For the metaphor compare the _Chanson_ in _Les Châtiments_,
Livre VII
Berlin, Vienne étaient ses maîtresses;
Il les forçait,
Leste, et prenant les forteresses
Par le corset;
Il triompha de cent bastilles
Qu'il investit.--
Voici pour toi, voici des filles,
Petit, petit.
These two passages are good specimens of what Brunetière called Hugo's
barbarous and Merovingian humour, a species of humour which suits well
the reproduction of a mediaeval _Chanson_, even if it offends the
critical in a modern satire.
_gentil_, used in its original sense of 'noble'.
_maillot_, Old French form of _maillet_, a mace or club. _salade_,
head-piece worn by knights, a word used in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and
seventeenth centuries.
_duché_, which is now masculine, was formerly of the feminine gender.
_liais_, lias; _pierre de liais_ is Portland stone.
_douve_, as a term in fortification, means the wall of a ditch.
_estramaçon_, a long, straight, two-edged sword. The word is of
Italian origin and first came into use in the sixteenth century. In an
adaptation of a thirteenth-century _Chanson_ it is out of place, as is
_salade_ above.
_escarcelle_, a kind of large purse which was carried at the belt.
l 193. The reference to the Sorbonne, which was founded in 1252, is of
course an anachronism.
_estoc_. See note on MARIAGE DE ROLAND.
_bachelier_. In the Middle Ages the word was used of a young man of
good birth who, being too poor to raise his own standard, fought
under the banner of a knight, but not as a squire. The
juxtaposition of _Je suis bachelier_ with _Je sais lire en latin_
has given rise to the suspicion that Hugo, who found the word in
one of Jubinal's articles, understood it in the modern sense. In
the absence of further evidence, however, the poet may be
considered entitled to a verdict of 'not proven'.