SC - Piers Ploughman- long
Cindy Renfrow
renfrow at skylands.net
Wed Oct 21 06:42:12 PDT 1998
>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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