SC - Piers Ploughman- long

[Cindy Renfrow]

>Ian van Tets wrote:
>>
>> Hello again!
>>
>> The quote in Piers Ploughman (IIRC) is that he has no _eggs_,
>> 'collops for to fry'.  He was lamenting being extremely poor - I
>> don't think he was in any position to buy red meat.
>>
>> Cairistiona
>
>Yes, I seem to recall the context was strongly in favor of "collops" being a
>reference to bacon, as per the late-or-post-period recipe for "The Best
>Collops and Eggs" (Markham, I think) which is simply bacon and eggs, more or
>less. Of course the references are something like 400 years apart, but the
>usage is consistent as a reference to slices of meat.
>
>Adamantius
>Østgardr, East
>--
>Phil & Susan Troy
>
>troy at asan.com

Hello!  Here is the passage in question, with the ref. in context.

'By-hote god,' quod Hunger  'hennes ne wil I wende,
Til I haue dyned bi this day  and ydronke bothe.'
'I haue no peny,' quod Peres  'poletes forto bigge,
Ne neyther gees ne grys  but two grene cheses,
A fewe cruddes and creem  and an hauer cake,
And two loues of benes and bran  y-bake for my fauntis.
And [3]et I sey, by my soule  I haue no salt bacoun,
Ne no kokeney, bi Cryst  coloppes forto maken.
Ac I haue percil and porettes  and many kole-plantes,
And eke a cow and a kalf  and a cart-mare
To drawe a-felde my donge  the while the drought lasteth.
And bi this lyflode we mot lyue  til Lammasse tyme;
And bi that, I hope to haue  heruest in my croft;
And thanne may I di[3]te thi dyner  as me dere liketh.'
Alle the pore peple tho  pesecoddes fetten,
Benes and baken apples  thei brou[3]te in her lappes,
Chibolles and cheruelles  and ripe chiries manye,
And profred Peres this present  to plese with hunger.
Al Hunger eet in hast  and axed after more.
Thanne pore folke for fere  fedde Hunger [3]erne
With grene poret and pesen  to poysoun Hunger thei thou[3]te.
By that it neighed nere heruest  newe corne cam to chepynge;
Thanne was folke fayne  and fedde Hunger with the best,
With good ale, as Glotoun tau[3]te  and gerte Hunger go slepe.
And tho wolde Wastour nou[3]t werche  but wandren aboute,
Ne no begger ete bred  that benes inne were,
But of coket or clerematyn  or elles of clene whete;
Ne none halpeny ale  in none wise drynke,
But of the best and of the brounest  that in borghe is to selle.
Laboreres that haue no lande  to lyue on but her handes,
Deyned nou[3]t to dyne a-day  ny[3]t-olde wortes.
May no peny-ale hem paye  ne no pece of bakoun,
But if it be fresch flesch other fische  fryed other bake,
And that chaude or plus chaud  for chillyng of her mawe.
And but-if he be heighlich huyred  ellis wil he chyde,
And that he was werkman wrou[3]t  waille the tyme,
A[3]eines Catones conseille  comseth he to Iangle:
Paupertatis onus pacienter ferre memento.
He greueth hym a[3]eines god  and gruccheth a[3]eines resoun,
And thanne curseth he the kynge  and al his conseille after,
Suche lawes to loke  laboreres to greue.
Ac whiles Hunger was her maister  there wolde none of hem chyde,
Ne stryue a[3]eines his statut  so sterneliche he loked.
Ac I warne [3]ow, werkemen  wynneth while [3]e mowe,
For Hunger hiderward  hasteth hym faste,
He shal awake with water  wastoures to chaste.
Ar fyue [3]ere be fulfilled  suche famyn shal aryse,
Thorwgh flodes and thourgh foule wederes  frutes shul faille,
And so sayde Saturne  and sent [3]ow to warne:


>From O.E.D.

collop

collop1 ko(hook).l<e>p. Forms: 4-5 colope, colhoppe, 4-6 coloppe, colloppe,
(5 colepe, colype), 5-6 colop, 6 colup, collup, 6-7 collap, collopp, 7
collope, 5-
collop. Derivation obscure. Ihre has Sw. kollops `edulii genus, confectum ex
carnis fragmentis, tudite lignea probe contusis et maceratis'; mod. Sw. kalops
slices of beef stewed; Grimm has Ger. klops a dish made of beaten
(geklopftem) meat, a steak. These seem to be the same word, but the latter is
commonly associated with Ger. klopfen to beat. Connexion with the Romanic
colpo, OFr. colp, Fr. coup, is not very likely phonetically. Minsheu's notion,
that the first part is col- coal, suits the early sense, and L. carbonella.

1. An egg fried on bacon; fried ham and eggs.

              1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 272, I haue no salt Bacon, Ne no
Cokeneyes, bi Crist Colopus to maken [v.r. colopis, -es, colhoppis; B. vi.
287
              coloppes; C. ix. 309 colhoppes].

              1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xvi. 67 And ete meny sondry
metes..bacon and
              colhoppes [v.r. coloppes, colloppus, colopis; B. xiii. 63
egges 		yfryed with grece].

              1530 Palsgr. 207/1 Colloppe, meate, oeuf au lard.

b. Afterwards called

collops and eggs

collops and eggs, `collop' being applied to the slice of bacon by itself.

              1542 Boorde Dyetary xvi. (1870) 273 Bacon is good for carters and
              plowmen..but and yf they haue the stone..coloppes and egges is as
              holsome for them, as a talowe candell is good for a horse mouth.

              1586 Cogan Haven Health cxciii. (1636) 174 Collops and
egges..is an usuall dish toward shrovetide.

              1599 Porter Angry Wom. Abingd. (Percy Soc.) 105 Ile cut thee
out in collops and egges, in steakes, in sliste beefe, and frye the with
the fyer.

              1611 Cotgr., Des oeufs à la riblette, egges and collops; or
an Omelet or Pancake of egges and slices of bacon mingled, and fried
together.

              1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 475 Collops and eggs, for
              dinner.

              1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Collops and eggs, fried bacon and eggs.

HTH,

Cindy/Sincgiefu
renfrow at skylands.net


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