ANST - Smalls

[Celeste de Montomorency]

Thank You So Much!!!!

                   Lady Celeste


>From: "I. Marc Carlson" <LIB_IMC at centum.utulsa.edu>
>Reply-To: ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG
>To: ANSTEORRA at Ansteorra.ORG
>Subject: ANST - Smalls
>Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1999 8:14:31 -0500
>
> >> As any red blooded Englishman knows, "smalls" are your underwear, not
> >>children....
>
>If I may quote from an article in our local newsletter from last year:
>
>Berengaria Ravencroft. "The Plain FAQS". _Nordic Saga_ (Nov. 1998)
>
>""Smalls" (also "Halflings") refers to children. Now it seems that this 
>term is
>a serious point of contention since a myth has sprung up that the term 
>"Smalls"
>is a contraction of "Small clothes" and so we are referring to our children 
>as
>underwear. Now it is entirely true that "Smalls" is derived from 
>"Smallclothes"
>and does mean "underwear" - but not until well into the 17th century. 
>"Small"
>in the Middle Ages still referred to something that was inferior. 
>"Halfling",
>it seems, also referred to children after 1794, and meant a stripling or
>something not fully grown. Some terms that were used in the Middle Ages are
>Arfname ("Heir", from Erf, cattle as inheritance, from the 10th through the
>13th centuries), Congeon (a dwarf or halfwit, especially as applied to a 
>child,
>from the 12th to the 15th centuries), Faunt (related to Infant, 14th 
>century),
>Girl (referring to a child of either gender, from the 13th to the 15th
>centuries), Imp (a child, the term only became derogatory in the 1500s, 
>from
>the 1300s on), and Minion (which can mean a Child, in the 1500s). To be 
>sure,
>these aren't the only terms that were used. Child and Children were popular
>too.
>
>Not to get into a lengthy discussion about the other "SCAdian Jargon" terms
>that some people don't care for, these include:
>Farspeaker = Telephone
>Garb = Clothing
>Autocrat = Person in charge of events ("Stewards", "Wardens")
>Troll = Gate guards, or the toll takers
>Newbie = A newcomer ("Comeling", "New Person")
>Dragon, Fire Chariot = Automobile ("Vehicle", "Van", "Car", "Conveyance")
>Mundane = Someone not affiliated with the SCA.
>
>Sources:
>Dictionary of Early English.
>Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition."
>
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