Annotations and comments

Chris Squire UK has posted 896 annotations/comments since 16 February 2013.

Comments

Second Reading

About Sunday 3 July 1664

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: ‘ . . and a couple of brave green geese . . “

‘green goose, n. . .
1. A young goose, esp. one killed under four months old.
. . 1620 T. Venner Via Recta iii. 66 Young Geese, which are commonly called greene-Geese.
. . 1877 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. Green goose, a goose killed at midsummer time. A goose under four months old . . ‘

(OED)

About Tuesday 28 June 1664

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: ‘This day put on a half-shirt first this summer, . . ’

‘half-shirt, n. . . A kind of shirt front for men, and chemisette for women, worn in 17th c.
1661 S. Pepys Diary 13 Oct. (1970) II. 195 This day left off half-shirts and put on a wastecoate.
1664 S. Pepys Diary 28 June (1971) V. 191 This day put on a half-shirt first this summer, it being very hot.
. . 1864 R. Chambers Bk. of Days II. 233/1 ‘Half-shirts’ were stomachers, more richly decorated with embroidery and lace, over which the boddice was laced from side to side.’
……………..
Re: ‘ . . how she will have her will, saying she brought him a portion . . ’

‘will, n.1 < Old English . .
. . 3. a. transf. (chiefly as obj. of have): That which one desires, (one's) ‘desire’. Now arch. or poet.
. . a1616 Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 (1623) i. iv. 145 Would'st haue me weepe? why now thou hast thy will .
. . 1798 S. T. Coleridge Anc. Marinere i, in Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 6 The wedding guest..listens like a three year's child; The Marinere hath his will . . ‘

‘portion, n. < Anglo-Norman . .
. . 1. d. A dowry; = marriage portion n. at marriage n. Compounds 2. Now chiefly hist.
. . 1813 J. Austen Pride & Prejudice I. xix. 252 Your portion is unhappily so small that it will in all likelihood undo the effects of your loveliness and amiable qualifications . . ‘
……..
(OED)

About Saturday 25 June 1664

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

OED is silent about ’Bend of Timbers’ but knows about ’knees’ in ship building:

‘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; †formerly applied to any naturally grown bent timber used in shipbuilding . .
. . 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 Friday 24 June 1664

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

The picture is: 'Sir Peter Lely: Portrait of a young woman and child, as Venus and Cupid, the young woman almost certainly either Barbara Villiers, Countess of Castlemaine . . or Nell Gwyn, full-length, naked, beside an urn, a landscape beyond
Price realised GBP 1,588,000'
http://www.christies.com/lotfinde…

In 2011 it was back on the market, at Sotheby’s, but didn’t sell. No news of it since then. Here is a zoomable image (NSFW): http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctio…

About Friday 24 June 1664

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

‘ . . it remains that he deals as an ingenuous man with me in the business I wot of, which he will do before he goes . . ’

‘wot, v. < Old English . . arch. trans. and intr. To know. Frequently const. with of. (See wit v.1)
1. 2nd sing. pres. ind. αnorth. and Sc.ME . . (no usable examples)

2. pres. ind. pl. αnorth. and Sc. ME–15, 17
. . a1627 T. Middleton & W. Rowley Old Law (1656) iii. 29 I have found out the true age..of the party you wot on.
1657 J. Trapp Comm. Psalms xxxii. 5 Wot you what?..he hath confessed himself as guilty..as his man.’

(OED)

A discreet way of alluding to a matter best not mentioned openly - even in a private diary.

About Thursday 16 June 1664

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: ‘ . . and there eat a messe of creame . . ‘

‘mess, n.1 < Anglo-Norman . .
I. A portion of food, and related senses.
. . 2. a. A portion or serving of liquid or pulpy food such as milk, broth, porridge, boiled vegetables, etc.

The expression a mess of pottage, alluding to the biblical story of Esau's sale of his birthright (Genesis 25:29–34), does not occur in the King James Bible (1611), although it is found in this context as early as c1452 (see quot.).

It appears in the heading of Chapter 25 in the Bibles of 1537 and 1539, and in the Geneva Bible of 1560. Coverdale (1535) does not use the phrase, either in the text or the chapter heading (his words being ‘meace of meate’, ‘meace of ryse’), but he has it in 1 Chronicles 16:3 and Proverbs 15:7.

. . a1641 T. Heywood & W. Rowley Fortune by Land & Sea (1655) iii. i Give..a word to the dayry maid for a mess of cream . . ‘

(OED)

About Wednesday 15 June 1664

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: ’ . . but did cheapen several parcels . . ’

‘cheap, v. < Germanic . .

3. a. trans. To bargain for, bid for, offer to buy, offer a price for, ask the price of, ‘price’.
. . 1631 B. Jonson Bartholmew Fayre iii. iv. 30 in Wks. II Why..stand heere..cheaping of Dogges, Birds, and Babies?’

About Monday 13 June 1664

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: ’ . . "to Greenwich, and there saw the King's works, which are great, a-doing there" . . ’

‘work, n.< a Germanic base cognate with ancient Greek ἔργον piece of work . .
. . 13. b. Chiefly Brit. In pl. Building or engineering operations.
. . 1660 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1641 (1955) II. 58 The new Citadell was advancing with innumerable hands... I was permitted to walke the round, and view the Workes . .

14. Mil. A fortified building or other defensive structure, a fortification. Also (frequently in pl.): any of the sides, walls, etc., of such a structure. Cf. bulwark n.
. . 1669 P. Staynred Compend. Fortification 4 in S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. There may be..occasion in Forts to raise..Platforms, or Batteries, to command all the other Works . . ‘

Re: ‘ . . sorts mightily with my genius . . ’

‘genius, n. and adj. < classical Latin . .
. . 7. b. Natural ability or capacity; quality of mind; attributes which suit a person for his or her peculiar work. Also: an instance of this.
. . 1729 B. Franklin Modest Enq. 17 Different Men have Genius's adapted to Variety of different Arts and Manufactures . . ‘

About Sunday 12 June 1664

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: sea freedom quote:

A google search readily reveals the source to be the Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure, vol 6, 1750, July 1750, p. 18; taken from The History Of England, p. 324, Vol 6 (no further details given).

The occasion was the Spanish ambassador’s protest after Drake’s return from his ‘astonishing three-year voyage around the world carrying treasure beyond imagination.’ (DNB) on 26 September 1580.

About Friday 10 June 1664

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: ’ . . and I stand indebted to him . . ’

‘indebted, adj. < . . medieval Latin . .
. . 3. a. Under obligation to another for favours or services received; owing gratitude; beholden.
. . 1660 T. Willsford Scales Commerce & Trade Pref. sig. A vij All the others have nothing to glory in, but how Princes and States are indebted to them . . ‘

(OED)

About Wednesday 8 June 1664

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

BCB: cryptogram, n.= ‘A piece of cryptographic writing; anything written in code or cipher.’ (OED)

‘ . . The seemingly impenetrable shorthand of the six volumes marked ‘journal’ discouraged examination until, it seems, the successful publication of Evelyn's diary (1818) prompted Magdalene to have Pepys's manuscript deciphered. An impecunious undergraduate of neighbouring St John's College, John Smith, was hired, and learned the characters by comparing Pepys's shorthand of Charles II's escape story with the longhand version. He did not know that the manual for the system, Thomas Shelton's Tutor to Tachygraphy (1642), was in the library . . ‘ (DNB)

Thank you, John Smith.

About Sunday 5 June 1664

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: ' . . she is taken with great gripings, . . '

griping, n.1 < gripe v.1 . . The action of gripe v.1 in various senses.
. . 1526 Bible (Tyndale) Matt. iv. f. v They brought vnto hym all sicke people, that were taken with divers diseases and gripinges. [So Coverdale, Geneva; 1611 torments.]
. .a1665 J. Goodwin Πλήρωμα τὸ Πνευματικόv (1670) ix. 260 Secret wringings, and gripings, and gnawings of Conscience.

. . gripe, v.1 < Common Germanic . .
. . 8.b. absol. To produce pain in the bowels as if by constriction or contraction; to cause ‘gripes’.
1702 J. Floyer in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 23 1171 Crato describes Sena as if it had Viscidum quid, by which it gripes . . ‘

(OED)

About Friday 3 June 1664

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: ’ . . for ought I see, being the only two that do anything like men . .’

‘aught, n.2, and pron., adj., and adv. < Old English á . . Middle English aht, aght, modern aught, the spelling now preferred as distinguishing this word from ought verb. In Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, ought and aught occur indiscriminately . .
. . a1616 Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) v. iii. 282 It might be yours or hers for ought I know.
. . 1709 Pope Chaucer's January & May in Poet. Misc.: 6th Pt. 222 Excuse me, Dear, if ought amiss was said . . ‘

(OED)

About Thursday 2 June 1664

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: 'There they were all snapt . . '

'snap, v. < Middle Dutch . .
. . II. 5. a. trans. To catch, capture, or seize quickly, suddenly, or by surprise. Common in the 17th c.; now chiefly dial., or spec. in Cricket.
. . c1645   I. Tullie Narr. Siege of Carlisle (1840) 6   They..failed in snapping Col. Graye's small regement of horse at Stanwick . . '

About Wednesday 1 June 1664

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: ’ . . and nineteen more commission officers being killed at Tangier . . ’

‘commission, v. < Anglo-Norman . .
. . 3.b. spec. To appoint (a person) to the rank of officer in a military force. Cf. commission n.1 1b.
1646 N. Cradock Answer Just Vindic. Gentlemen of Pembrokeshire 5 Touching a Commander in chief,..the Earl of Carbery was Commissioned accordingly . . ’

whence:

‘non-commissioned, adj. . .
1. Of a subordinate officer (esp. a sergeant) in the armed services: not holding a commission, appointed from the enlisted personnel. Cf. non-commission officer n.

1648 Die Sabbathi 8 As to the whole Arrear of any private Soldier or non-Commissioned Officer,..There shall not..be any stop or delay made to the payment thereof . .’

whence:

‘NCO n. Mil. non-commissioned officer.
1803–10 Orderly Bks. of Manx Fencibles in Yn Lioar Manninagh (1890) I. 152 Any party, consisting of 6 men or upwards, must have a N.C.O...appointed to go with them. . . ‘

(OED)

About Tuesday 31 May 1664

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Marquess: Pepys is just beingold-fashioned again. The OED shows that ‘winde’ is common up to 1620 but becomes rare and then extinct thereafter presumably because the final ‘e’ was no longer pronounced.

About Tuesday 31 May 1664

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: ‘ . . obnoxious to reproach . . ‘

‘obnoxious, adj. < classical Latin
. . 3. Open to punishment or censure; guilty, blameworthy, reprehensible. Obs.
1642 Vindic. King p. ii, It could make that obnoxious, which till this Parliament no man could ever call a fault.
1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 275 Our particular Persons were not obnoxious . . ‘

The modern sense was already in use:

‘ . . 5. Offensive, objectionable, odious, highly disagreeable. Now esp. (of a person): giving offence, acting objectionably; extremely unpleasant, highly dislikable. (Now the usual sense.)
1646 H. Burton Truth, Still Truth 30 Truth may be obnoxious to many, but never noxious* to any.
1675 A. Wood Life & Times (1892) II. 318 A very obnoxious person; an ill neighbour; and given much to law sutes with any . . ‘

* = harmful

(OED)

About Monday 30 May 1664

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: Cockney:

‘cockney, n. and adj. < Middle English . . lit. ‘cocks' egg’.
. . 4. spec. a. A person born in the city of London: strictly, (according to Minsheu) ‘one born within the sound of Bow Bells’.
Originally freq. more or less contemptuous or bantering, and particularly used to connote the characteristics in which the born Londoner was supposed to be inferior to other English people.
. . 1617 J. Minsheu Ὴγεμὼν είς τὰς γλῶσσας: Ductor in Linguas (at cited word), A Cockney or Cockny, applied only to one borne within the sound of Bow-bell, that is, within the City of London, which tearme came first out of this tale:

That a Cittizens sonne riding with his father..into the Country..asked, when he heard a horse neigh, what the horse did his father answered, the horse doth neigh; riding farther he heard a cocke crow, and said doth the cocke neigh too? and therfore Cockney or Cocknie, by inuersion thus: incock, q. incoctus i. raw or vnripe in Country-mens affaires . . ‘

‘Cockney’is going out of use nowadays as London is now a multi-national city, the Capital of the World, and the pure accent has died out. Instead we have ‘London’ and ‘Est’ry’:

‘Estuary English n. a term applied (with reference to the estuary of the River Thames) to a type of accent identified as spreading outwards from London, mainly into the south-east of England, and containing features of both received pronunciation and such regional accents as Cockney.

1984 D. Rosewarne in Times Educ. Suppl. 19 Oct. 29/1 What I have chosen to term Estuary English may now and for the foreseeable future, be the strongest native influence upon RP. ‘Estuary English’ is a variety of modified regional speech... ‘Estuary English’ is a mixture of ‘London’ and General RP forms.
1993 Sunday Times 14 Mar. 1/8 It is the classless dialect sweeping southern Britain. Estuary English, the ‘high cockney’ diction typified by Ken Livingstone, Nigel Kennedy and Lord Tebbit, has taken such a hold on the way millions speak that it could become the standard spoken English of the future . . '

(OED)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Est…

About Saturday 28 May 1664

Chris Squire UK  •  Link

Re: ‘ . . wherein I very highly commend him.’

‘commend, v. < Latin
. . 3. a. gen. To mention as worthy of acceptance or approval, to express approbation of, praise, extol.
. . a1616 Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) ii. v. 160 She did commend my yellow stockings of late.
1634 R. H. tr. Regim. Salerni Pref. 2 Commend it, or come and mend it . . ‘
……………………..

Re: ‘ . . a second lesson upon my Shipwrightry, . . ’

‘shipwright, n. < Old English . .
1. A man employed in the construction of ships. The Company of Shipwrights was incorporated in 1605.
. . 1656 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. II. v. 64 To make a Helm, is the office of a Shipwright, but to use it rightly of a Pilot

shipwrighting n. the art or occupation of a shipwright; shipwright's work.
1894 A. Morrison Tales Mean Streets 158 Carpentering, ship-wrighting, and engine-fitting.

shipwrightry n. = shipwrighting n.
1711 W. Sutherland Ship-builders Assistant 22, I was concern'd that Shipwrightry should be utterly neglected . .

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1928).’

(OED)