259. Here Chaucer apparently omits a sentence, namely:--'Uenerat expectatus
dies, et cum nullus sponsae rumor audiretur, admiratio omnium uehementer
excreuerat.' But he has, in fact, given us this above, in ll. 246-8.
260. _undern_ (lit. the intervening or middle period) has two meanings in
the Teutonic tongues; (1) mid-forenoon, i. e. originally 9 A. M.; and (2)
mid-afternoon, originally 3 P. M. In this passage it is clearly the former
that is meant; indeed in l. 981, where it occurs again, the original has
'proximae lucis _hora tertia_,' i. e. 9 A. M. In _this_ passage, the
original has _hora prandii_, meaning luncheon-time, which in Chaucer's time
would often be 9 A. M.; see note to B. 1396, at p. 171; and cf. Ælfric's
Homilies, ed. Thorpe, ii. 77. See note to Piers Pl. B. vi. 147; and see
_Undern_ in the Glossary.
But it may be noted here, that the sense of _undern_ is variable. Sometimes
it meant the period from 9 to 12, or the middle of that period, i. e. about
10.30 or 11. Sometimes, the period from 3 to 6 P. M., or the middle of it,
i. e. about 4.30 or 4. In modern E. dialects, it means about 4 P. M. See B.
4412, D. 875.
260-294. Expanded and improved from the following short passage: 'Hora iam
prandii aderat, iamque apparatu ingenti domus tota feruebat. Tum
Gualtherus, aduentanti ueluti sponsae obuiam profecturus, domo egreditur,
prosequente uirorum et matronarum nobilium caterua. Griseldis omnium quae
erga se pararentur ignara, peractis quae agenda domi erant, aquam e
longinquo fonte conuectans paternum limen intrabat: ut, expedita curis
aliis, ad uisendam domini sui sponsam cum puellis comitibus properaret.'
322. _governeth_, arrange, dispose of. Observe the use of the _plural_
imperative, as a mark of respect. When the marquis addresses Griseldis as
_ye_, it is a mark of extreme condescension on his part; the Latin text has
_tu_ and _te_.
337-343. Expanded from--'insolito tanti hospitis aduentu stupidam inuenere;
quam iis uerbis Gualtherus aggreditur.'
350. _yow avyse_, consider the matter; really a delicate way of expressing
refusal. Compare the legal formula _le roy s'avisera_ for expressing the
royal refusal to a proposed measure.
364. _For to be deed_, even if I were to be dead, were to die; Lat. 'et si
me mori iusseris, quod moleste feram.'
375-376. These characteristic lines are Chaucer's own. So are ll. 382, 383.
[346]
381. _corone_, nuptial garland; Lat. 'corona.' See Brand's Pop. Antiq. ed.
Ellis, ii. 123.
388. _snow-whyt_; Lat. 'niueo.' Perhaps Spenser took a hint from this; F.
Q. i. 1. 4. In the Leg. of Good Women, l. 1198, Chaucer calls a horse
_paper-whyt_.