SC - FW: Husband and Wife Teams

[Karen Evans]

At 10:07 AM -0400 9/21/98, Cindy Renfrow wrote:
><snip>
>>On one reading, it is "add a quantity of X that is equal to what you get if
>>you divide Y into three equal parts--i.e. a third part of Y." On the other
>>it is "add to two parts of Y a third part of X." The former sounds right to
>>me, and the latter wrong, but I can't think of any way of proving the
>>matter either way.
>>
>>David/Cariadoc
>>http://www.best.com/~ddfr/
>>
>
>Hello!
>
>While the word thriddendele does not occur in "Two 15th c. Cookery Books",
>the word halvyndele, or halfyndele, occurs twice.  In both instances it
>means one-half part.  Or, an equal quantity of X and Y are to be added.
>(See below.)
>
>By extension, 'thriddendele' would mean that Y is one-third of the total,
>or two parts X to one part Y.

> [th]an take [th]e halvyndele, & colour it with
>Safroun, a lytil, & do [th]er-to pouder Canelle;

>; [th]en take [th]e
>halfyndele, & put it in a pot of er[th]e; [th]en take the o[th]er
>halfyndele, & parte it [in] to, & make [th]e half [3]elow

You say "Or, an equal quantity of X and Y are to be added." But there is no
Y in either of these recipes. In these recipes, we have a quantity of X, it
is divided into two parts, and each part is referred to as a halfyndele. So
far, so good. It follows that if we divided X into three parts, each would
be referred to as a thriddendele.

Now comes the problem. What happens if we start with a quantity of X, and
add to it a thriddendele of Y? Your interpretation is that we add a
quantity such that the amount of Y is a third of the combined amount of X
and Y. My interpretation is that we are adding an amount of Y equal to a
third of the quantity of X. Similarly, on my interpretation, if they said
"take a pound of sugar and add to that a halfendele of honey," that would
mean "since half a pound is half the quantity of sugar, add half a pound of
honey." I don't see how your quotes solve the problem.

Suppose I wrote "take a pound of X and half the quantity of Y." In modern
English, that is half a pound of Y. Now suppose I wrote "take a pound of X,
boil half the quantity and fry the other half." The latter corresponds to
your example, the former to my interpretation--and both are correct in
modern English.


Obviously we have to cook the recipe both ways and see how it comes out ...  .

David/Cariadoc
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/


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