An Elizabethan Lexicon
Language in the sixteenth century was rich,
poetic – and coarse. Here are some of the words I have gleaned in many years of reading histories and plays of the
period. Some still in use, many sadly long gone.
I apologise for the extraordinary number of derogatory
words there were for women, especially when men do not suffer the same
treatment. But you’ll have to blame our sexist ancestors for that!
 F
Fact: deed, crime
Factor: collecting agent
Fain: be inclined, compelled
Fairy, faerie: spirit, often evil
Faker of gybes: forger of licences and other documents
Fall in: copulate
Falling sickness: epilepsy
Famblers: slang for gloves
Fambling-cheat: ring
Familist: member of the Family of Love mystical religious sect
Fasts (as in head fasts, stern fasts): ship’s mooring lines
Ferret: to cheat
Fet: fetch
Figure caster: astrologer
Filchman: truncheon
Fire Master of England: Elizabeth’s fireworks supremo
Flag mat: a rush mat
Fleaing: removing fleas from
Flench, flense: to flay
Flick: thief
Flowers: menstruation, period
Fly: witch’s familiar spirit
Flyboat: fast, light, shallow-draughted vessel for transport or carrying goods
Flock: wool refuse for stuffing mattresses and pillows
Flota: Spanish treasure fleet from New World
Flummery: worthless, empty
Foin: pickpocket
Foist: to pick pockets, cheat, palm off
Foreign officer: parish official charged with seeking out vagrants
Foreparts: stomachers, ornamental clothing for women
Forspoken: bewitched or beguiled, spoken evil of
Frantic: insane
Frater: proctor (authorised charity collector)
French-hood: fashionable hood for women
French marbles, pox, crown, welcome: venereal disease
Friars (The): Blackfriars area of London
Frenzy: madness
Frieze: a coarse woollen cloth with nap on one side
Frigate: light, fast sailing ship, sometimes employing oars
Fuller: a clothworker (could be a shearer) using clay to remove grease from wool
Fullams: weighted dice (slang)
Fustian: coarse cloth made of cotton and flax
Back to page top >
|
