‘chocolate, n. and adj.: Forms: . . 17 chocolett, 17 jacolat, 17 jocalat, 17– choc'late . . < Spanish < Nahuatl . . 1. A hot drink made by mixing prepared chocolate (sense A. 2a) or cocoa with water or milk (and sometimes other ingredients) . . originally made from a paste of ground roasted cocoa beans . . and typically very thick . . very popular and fashionable across Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries; . . . . 1664 S. Pepys Diary 24 Nov. (1971) V. 329 To a Coffee-house to drink Jocolatte, very good . . ‘
Re: ‘ . . He told me, that one year of the late Dutch warr cost £1,623,000 . . ’
To understand what £1.6 mn. of public spending and taxation in the 1660s meant to government who had to raise it and taxpayers who had to pay it, we need to estimate what share of nominal GDP. The multiplier for this 29,000: 1 (Taken from https://www.measuringworth.com/uk… via nhttp://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…) which explains which index to use for different purposes.).
So £1.6 mn in 1664 + = £46 billion today - the amount, as it happens - the UK currently spends on defence.
Re: ' . . A great deal of ordinary discourse with him.'
‘ordinary, adj. and adv. < Anglo-Norman . . . . 2. a. . . occurring in the course of regular custom or practice; normal; customary; usual. . . 1657 R. Ligon True Hist. Barbados 4 Her ordinary flying..is commonly more free then the best Haggard Faulcon . . ‘
Re: ' . . which are mighty low, even to admiration . . '
'admiration, n. < Middle French 1. The action or an act of wondering or marvelling; wonder, astonishment, surprise. Now rare. 1696 J. Asgill Several Assertions Proved xiii. 42 The plain appearance of them raises an admiration, that they were never before observed. . . 1953 V. Randolph & G. P. Wilson Down in Holler 85 Admiration, usually shortened to miration, still means wonderment or surprise in the Ozarks.'
‘ . . Continued fractions first appeared in the works of the Indian mathematician Aryabhata in the 6th century. He used them to solve linear equations. They re-emerged in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries and Fibonacci attempted to define them in a general way. The term "continued fraction" first appeared in 1653 in an edition of the book Arithmetica Infinitorum by the Oxford mathematician, John Wallis.
Their properties were also much studied by one of Wallis's English contemporaries, William Brouncker, who along with Wallis, was one of the founders of the Royal Society. At about the same time, the famous Dutch mathematical physicist, Christiaan Huygens made practical use of continued fractions in building scientific instruments. Later, in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Gauss and Euler explored many of their deep properties . . ‘
‘Chaos in Numberland: The secret life of continued fractions’ by John D. Barrow, a Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge.
‘pelf, n. . . < Anglo-Norman pelfre . . . . 3. Chiefly depreciative. Money, riches (esp. viewed as a corrupting influence); lucre. . . 1656 Bp. J. Hall Shaking of Olive-tree (1660) ii. 203 Ye rich men cannot think to carry your pelfe with you into Heaven . . ‘
‘blind, adj. < Common Germanic . . . . 8. a. Out of sight, out of the way, secret, obscure, privy . . . . 1661 S. Pepys Diary 15 Oct. (1970) II. 195 To Paul's churchyard to a blind place, where Mrs. Goldsborough was to meet me . . ‘ ….. Re: ‘Businesses grow high between the Dutch and us on every side.’
‘business n. < Germanic . . . . 5. Fuss, ado. a. Trouble, difficulty. Obs. . . 1693 J. Locke Some Thoughts conc. Educ. §157 His learning to read should be made as little Trouble or Business to him as might be.
b. Disturbance, commotion; (also) an instance of this. Obs. . . 1577 R. Holinshed Hist. Scotl. 65/2 in Chron. I Herevpon was Argadus sent forth..with a power to appease that businesse . . ‘ …… (OED)
Re: ' . . getting a speech out of Hamlett, “To bee or not to bee,” without book.'
'book, n. < Germanic. . . P2. a. without (†one's) book : without the aid of a book, from memory, by rote; . . . . a1616 Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) i. iii. 25 He..speaks three or four languages word for word without booke . . '
‘hurry n. < uncertain . . . . 4. a. Action accelerated by some pressure of circumstances, excitement, or agitation; undue or immoderate haste; the condition of being obliged to act quickly through having little time; eagerness to get something done quickly . . 1692 tr. C. de Saint-Évremond Misc. Ess. 77 To enjoy themselves equally in the hurry of Business, and the Repose of a Private Life . . ‘ …….. Re: ’Pourveyour of petty provisions’
‘purveyor, n. < Anglo-Norman . . . . 1. b. A person who procures, provides, or supplies something; spec. a person whose business is the provision of food or other material necessities . . . . 1635 F. Quarles Emblemes v. vi. 265 I love the Sea, She is my fellow-Creature; My carefull Purveyor; She provides me store . . ‘ …… (OED)
‘thrust, v. < Old Norse . . . . 3. a. intr. To push or force one's way, as through a crowd; to crowd in; to make one's way or advance as against obstacles; to press onwards or into a place, etc. Also fig. . .1620 W. Lawson in J. Dennys Secrets of Angling (new ed.) sig. E4 They thrust vp little Brooks to spawne . . ‘
Re: ’ . . how my behaviour on the Coast is resented . .’
‘resent, v. < French. . . 6. b. To take or receive in a certain way or with certain feelings; to take well (also ill). Obs. 1669 S. Pepys Diary 12 Feb. (1976) IX. 445 It was mighty well resented and approved of. 1678 W. Mountagu in Buccleuch MSS (Hist. MSS Comm.) (1899) I. 327 I confess it's a tender point, and I long to know how it was resented . . ‘
Re: ‘ . . all hands will be needed for the work cut out; . . ‘
‘work, n.< Germanic. . . P2. Phrases with verbs. a. (a) to cut out work (for a person): to prepare work to be done by a person; to give a person something to do. In later use frequently in pass. Now rare. Perhaps originally with metaphorical allusion to the preparation of fabric to be worked on; see sense 17a. . . 1669 J. Flavell Husbandry Spiritualized i. i. 19 You find in the Word, a world of work cut out for Christians; there's hearing work, praying work, reading, meditating, and self-examining work . .
(b) colloq. to have one's work cut out (for one) and variants: to have enough to do; to have as much to do as one can manage, esp. in the time available; to be faced with a hard or lengthy task . . ‘
‘knee, n. < Common Germanic . . . . 7. A piece of timber having a natural angular bend, or artificially so bent; also a piece of metal of the same shape. a. Shipbuilding and Naut. A piece of timber naturally bent, used to secure parts of a ship together, esp. one with an angular bend used to connect the beams and the timbers; by extension, a bent piece of iron serving the same purpose . . . . 1600 R. Hakluyt tr. in Princ. Navigations (new ed.) III. 864 Carpenters to set knees into her, and any other tymbers appertaining to the strengthening of a shippe . . ‘
‘ . . At the Restoration, (Sir Toby) Bridge (nb: no 's') almost certainly lost the crown lands he had purchased with army debentures in the early 1650s . . In 1663–4 he commanded several troops of horse at Tangiers, and by May 1664 he had been knighted . . About June 1664 he was chosen interim governor by his fellow officers after most of the garrison and its commander had been killed fighting the Moors.
Early in 1667 he was commissioned as a colonel of foot, and in March he and his men were sent out to Barbados . . his date of death and place of burial are unknown. It is said that the island's capital, Bridgetown, was named after him.’
This is impractical conspicuous consumption, displaying taste, wealth and status to impress the world. So the appropriate multiplier is not the puny 120:1 used to get today’s price for everyday consumables but ‘economic status value = income value = per capita GDP’ = 5,200:1. 17L equates to c. 90,000L today, the cost of an expensive motor car (e.g. the BMW 6 Series Convertible Range 67,000 - 101,000 L http://www.carpages.co.uk/guide/b…).
No doubt we’ll soon read tales of woe about wear and tear and dirt spoiling the effect, the equivalent of the first scratches of a new Beamer’s paintwork.
‘light, n.1 < Old English . . . . 6. c. pl. (a) Pieces of information or instruction; facts, discoveries, or suggestions which explain a subject. . . . . 1683 W. Temple Mem. in Wks. (1731) I. 387 I had long Conversations with the Pensioner, by which I gain'd the Lights necessary to discover the whole present Scene of Affairs . . ‘
Re: ‘Does anyone know why midshipmen were called "snotties" ? And were they so in our Sam's time?’
‘snotty, adj. The word occurs also as a noun in dialect use . . . . b. Dirty, mean, paltry, contemptible, etc. Now dial. or slang. . . 1712 Odes of Horace ii. 27/1 Horace is no such snotty author as to have this putid Stuff put upon him. . . ‘
‘snotty-nose, n. a. One whose nose is dirty with snot; hence, a paltry, mean, or contemptible fellow. . .1631 B. Jonson Bartholmew Fayre ii. v. 136 in Wks. II Dos't so, snotty nose? good Lord! are you sniueling? . . ‘
‘snotty, n. A midshipman. 1903 J. S. Farmer & W. E. Henley Slang VI. ii. 286/1 Snottie, a midshipman . . ‘ ………… ‘midshipman, n. . . 1. A non-commissioned naval officer ranking immediately below the most junior commissioned officer (i.e. in the Royal Navy, next below a sub lieutenant) . . The midshipman in the Royal Navy originally had the functions of a superior petty officer, and was in most cases appointed or rated by the ship's captain . . From 1677 all candidates for commissioned rank required previous service as a midshipman. . . 1662 S. Pepys Diary 20 Nov. (1970) III. 261 To send him to sea as a Midshipman . . ‘
‘rub < Origin uncertain. . . . 6. b. An intentional injury inflicted on the feelings of another; esp. (in later use) a minor reproof or dig, a jibe. Now rare . . . . 1720 D. Defoe Life Capt. Singleton 192 You have always one dry Rub or another to give us . . ‘
‘stop, n.2 < Old English < Latin . . The sense ‘bring or come to a stand’ is a specially English development, but in marine and railway use the English word has been widely adopted in other languages . . I. . . 5. A block or obstruction of traffic caused by the overcrowding of vehicles. 1625 Bacon Apophthegmes §86 in Wks. (1778) I. 539 A citizen of London passing the streets very hastily, came at last where some stop was made by carts;..where being in some passion that he could not suddenly pass [etc.]. . . ‘
Comments
Second Reading
About Thursday 24 November 1664
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ’ . . to drink jocolatte . . ’
‘chocolate, n. and adj.: Forms: . . 17 chocolett, 17 jacolat, 17 jocalat, 17– choc'late . . < Spanish < Nahuatl . .
1. A hot drink made by mixing prepared chocolate (sense A. 2a) or cocoa with water or milk (and sometimes other ingredients) . . originally made from a paste of ground roasted cocoa beans . . and typically very thick . . very popular and fashionable across Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries; . .
. . 1664 S. Pepys Diary 24 Nov. (1971) V. 329 To a Coffee-house to drink Jocolatte, very good . . ‘
About Tuesday 22 November 1664
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . He told me, that one year of the late Dutch warr cost £1,623,000 . . ’
To understand what £1.6 mn. of public spending and taxation in the 1660s meant to government who had to raise it and taxpayers who had to pay it, we need to estimate what share of nominal GDP. The multiplier for this 29,000: 1 (Taken from https://www.measuringworth.com/uk… via nhttp://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…) which explains which index to use for different purposes.).
So £1.6 mn in 1664 + = £46 billion today - the amount, as it happens - the UK currently spends on defence.
About Sunday 20 November 1664
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ' . . A great deal of ordinary discourse with him.'
‘ordinary, adj. and adv. < Anglo-Norman . .
. . 2. a. . . occurring in the course of regular custom or practice; normal; customary; usual.
. . 1657 R. Ligon True Hist. Barbados 4 Her ordinary flying..is commonly more free then the best Haggard Faulcon . . ‘
About Sunday 20 November 1664
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ' . . which are mighty low, even to admiration . . '
'admiration, n. < Middle French
1. The action or an act of wondering or marvelling; wonder, astonishment, surprise. Now rare.
1696 J. Asgill Several Assertions Proved xiii. 42 The plain appearance of them raises an admiration, that they were never before observed.
. . 1953 V. Randolph & G. P. Wilson Down in Holler 85 Admiration, usually shortened to miration, still means wonderment or surprise in the Ozarks.'
(OED)
About William Brouncker (2nd Viscount Brouncker)
Chris Squire UK • Link
‘ . . Continued fractions first appeared in the works of the Indian mathematician Aryabhata in the 6th century. He used them to solve linear equations. They re-emerged in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries and Fibonacci attempted to define them in a general way. The term "continued fraction" first appeared in 1653 in an edition of the book Arithmetica Infinitorum by the Oxford mathematician, John Wallis.
Their properties were also much studied by one of Wallis's English contemporaries, William Brouncker, who along with Wallis, was one of the founders of the Royal Society. At about the same time, the famous Dutch mathematical physicist, Christiaan Huygens made practical use of continued fractions in building scientific instruments. Later, in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Gauss and Euler explored many of their deep properties . . ‘
‘Chaos in Numberland: The secret life of continued fractions’ by John D. Barrow, a Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge.
https://plus.maths.org/content/ch…
About Thursday 17 November 1664
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘pelf’
‘pelf, n. . . < Anglo-Norman pelfre . .
. . 3. Chiefly depreciative. Money, riches (esp. viewed as a corrupting influence); lucre.
. . 1656 Bp. J. Hall Shaking of Olive-tree (1660) ii. 203 Ye rich men cannot think to carry your pelfe with you into Heaven . . ‘
‘pilfer’ is from the same source.
(OED)
About Tuesday 15 November 1664
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ’ . . a blind alehouse.’
‘blind, adj. < Common Germanic . .
. . 8. a. Out of sight, out of the way, secret, obscure, privy . .
. . 1661 S. Pepys Diary 15 Oct. (1970) II. 195 To Paul's churchyard to a blind place, where Mrs. Goldsborough was to meet me . . ‘
…..
Re: ‘Businesses grow high between the Dutch and us on every side.’
‘business n. < Germanic . .
. . 5. Fuss, ado.
a. Trouble, difficulty. Obs.
. . 1693 J. Locke Some Thoughts conc. Educ. §157 His learning to read should be made as little Trouble or Business to him as might be.
b. Disturbance, commotion; (also) an instance of this. Obs.
. . 1577 R. Holinshed Hist. Scotl. 65/2 in Chron. I Herevpon was Argadus sent forth..with a power to appease that businesse . . ‘
……
(OED)
About Sunday 13 November 1664
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ' . . getting a speech out of Hamlett, “To bee or not to bee,” without book.'
'book, n. < Germanic.
. . P2. a. without (†one's) book : without the aid of a book, from memory, by rote; . .
. . a1616 Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) i. iii. 25 He..speaks three or four languages word for word without booke . . '
(OED)
About Friday 11 November 1664
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ’ . . when the greatest of our hurry is . . ’
‘hurry n. < uncertain . .
. . 4. a. Action accelerated by some pressure of circumstances, excitement, or agitation; undue or immoderate haste; the condition of being obliged to act quickly through having little time; eagerness to get something done quickly . .
1692 tr. C. de Saint-Évremond Misc. Ess. 77 To enjoy themselves equally in the hurry of Business, and the Repose of a Private Life . . ‘
……..
Re: ’Pourveyour of petty provisions’
‘purveyor, n. < Anglo-Norman . .
. . 1. b. A person who procures, provides, or supplies something; spec. a person whose business is the provision of food or other material necessities . .
. . 1635 F. Quarles Emblemes v. vi. 265 I love the Sea, She is my fellow-Creature; My carefull Purveyor; She provides me store . . ‘
……
(OED)
About Monday 7 November 1664
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ’ . . mighty thrusting about the Duke . . ’
‘thrust, v. < Old Norse . .
. . 3. a. intr. To push or force one's way, as through a crowd; to crowd in; to make one's way or advance as against obstacles; to press onwards or into a place, etc. Also fig.
. .1620 W. Lawson in J. Dennys Secrets of Angling (new ed.) sig. E4 They thrust vp little Brooks to spawne . . ‘
(OED)
About Saturday 5 November 1664
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ’ . . how my behaviour on the Coast is resented . .’
‘resent, v. < French.
. . 6. b. To take or receive in a certain way or with certain feelings; to take well (also ill). Obs.
1669 S. Pepys Diary 12 Feb. (1976) IX. 445 It was mighty well resented and approved of.
1678 W. Mountagu in Buccleuch MSS (Hist. MSS Comm.) (1899) I. 327 I confess it's a tender point, and I long to know how it was resented . . ‘
(OED)
About Friday 4 November 1664
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . all hands will be needed for the work cut out; . . ‘
‘work, n.< Germanic.
. . P2. Phrases with verbs.
a. (a) to cut out work (for a person): to prepare work to be done by a person; to give a person something to do. In later use frequently in pass. Now rare. Perhaps originally with metaphorical allusion to the preparation of fabric to be worked on; see sense 17a.
. . 1669 J. Flavell Husbandry Spiritualized i. i. 19 You find in the Word, a world of work cut out for Christians; there's hearing work, praying work, reading, meditating, and self-examining work . .
(b) colloq. to have one's work cut out (for one) and variants: to have enough to do; to have as much to do as one can manage, esp. in the time available; to be faced with a hard or lengthy task . . ‘
About Wednesday 2 November 1664
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ’ . . a parcel of brave knees . . ‘
‘knee, n. < Common Germanic . .
. . 7. A piece of timber having a natural angular bend, or artificially so bent; also a piece of metal of the same shape.
a. Shipbuilding and Naut. A piece of timber naturally bent, used to secure parts of a ship together, esp. one with an angular bend used to connect the beams and the timbers; by extension, a bent piece of iron serving the same purpose . .
. . 1600 R. Hakluyt tr. in Princ. Navigations (new ed.) III. 864 Carpenters to set knees into her, and any other tymbers appertaining to the strengthening of a shippe . . ‘
About Sir Toby Bridges
Chris Squire UK • Link
‘ . . At the Restoration, (Sir Toby) Bridge (nb: no 's') almost certainly lost the crown lands he had purchased with army debentures in the early 1650s . . In 1663–4 he commanded several troops of horse at Tangiers, and by May 1664 he had been knighted . . About June 1664 he was chosen interim governor by his fellow officers after most of the garrison and its commander had been killed fighting the Moors.
Early in 1667 he was commissioned as a colonel of foot, and in March he and his men were sent out to Barbados . . his date of death and place of burial are unknown. It is said that the island's capital, Bridgetown, was named after him.’
(DNB)
About Sunday 30 October 1664
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . costing me about 17l..’
This is impractical conspicuous consumption, displaying taste, wealth and status to impress the world. So the appropriate multiplier is not the puny 120:1 used to get today’s price for everyday consumables but ‘economic status value = income value = per capita GDP’ = 5,200:1. 17L equates to c. 90,000L today, the cost of an expensive motor car (e.g. the BMW 6 Series Convertible Range 67,000 - 101,000 L http://www.carpages.co.uk/guide/b…).
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
No doubt we’ll soon read tales of woe about wear and tear and dirt spoiling the effect, the equivalent of the first scratches of a new Beamer’s paintwork.
About Saturday 29 October 1664
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . great light I had by Parham . . ’
‘light, n.1 < Old English . .
. . 6. c. pl. (a) Pieces of information or instruction; facts, discoveries, or suggestions which explain a subject. . .
. . 1683 W. Temple Mem. in Wks. (1731) I. 387 I had long Conversations with the Pensioner, by which I gain'd the Lights necessary to discover the whole present Scene of Affairs . . ‘
About Friday 28 October 1664
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘Does anyone know why midshipmen were called "snotties" ? And were they so in our Sam's time?’
‘snotty, adj. The word occurs also as a noun in dialect use . .
. . b. Dirty, mean, paltry, contemptible, etc. Now dial. or slang.
. . 1712 Odes of Horace ii. 27/1 Horace is no such snotty author as to have this putid Stuff put upon him. . . ‘
‘snotty-nose, n.
a. One whose nose is dirty with snot; hence, a paltry, mean, or contemptible fellow.
. .1631 B. Jonson Bartholmew Fayre ii. v. 136 in Wks. II Dos't so, snotty nose? good Lord! are you sniueling? . . ‘
‘snotty, n.
A midshipman.
1903 J. S. Farmer & W. E. Henley Slang VI. ii. 286/1 Snottie, a midshipman . . ‘
…………
‘midshipman, n. . .
1. A non-commissioned naval officer ranking immediately below the most junior commissioned officer (i.e. in the Royal Navy, next below a sub lieutenant) . . The midshipman in the Royal Navy originally had the functions of a superior petty officer, and was in most cases appointed or rated by the ship's captain . . From 1677 all candidates for commissioned rank required previous service as a midshipman.
. . 1662 S. Pepys Diary 20 Nov. (1970) III. 261 To send him to sea as a Midshipman . . ‘
About Friday 28 October 1664
Chris Squire UK • Link
Charles . . (will) declare war on the Netherlands on 4 March 1665 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sec…
About Thursday 27 October 1664
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . there met with a rub at first . . ’
‘rub < Origin uncertain. .
. . 6. b. An intentional injury inflicted on the feelings of another; esp. (in later use) a minor reproof or dig, a jibe. Now rare . .
. . 1720 D. Defoe Life Capt. Singleton 192 You have always one dry Rub or another to give us . . ‘
(OED)
About Wednesday 26 October 1664
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . a stop of coaches in Southwarke . . ‘
‘stop, n.2 < Old English < Latin . . The sense ‘bring or come to a stand’ is a specially English development, but in marine and railway use the English word has been widely adopted in other languages . .
I. . . 5. A block or obstruction of traffic caused by the overcrowding of vehicles.
1625 Bacon Apophthegmes §86 in Wks. (1778) I. 539 A citizen of London passing the streets very hastily, came at last where some stop was made by carts;..where being in some passion that he could not suddenly pass [etc.]. . . ‘
(OED)
.....
I agree with Sasha!