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!
 G
Gage of booze: quart of ale
Galoche: overshoe
Galleass: warship fitted with oars and sails
Galleon: large fighting ship
Galley: oared warship. Used by the Spanish, each oar was powered by five men at up to 26 strokes a minute, making a speed of four knots
Game, the: prostitution
Gamekeeper: a keeper of whores
Garnish: bribe, especially in prison
Gentry cove: upper class man
Gentry mort: upper class woman
Gibbet: gallows, especially one where dead criminal was left to rot
Gilk: skeleton key
Glaziers: eyes
Gong: a privy or its contents
Gong farmers, night-soil men: sewage collectors
Gossip: friend, especially female, perhaps godparent
Gracemans: Gracechurch Street Market
Great ship: armed merchantman over 300 tons
Greenmans: fields, countryside
Gridiron: Iron bars on feet with a long handle for cooking over fires
Groat: coin worth four pence
Grogram: coarse fabric of silk or mohair, often stiffened with gum
Grunting-cheat: pig
Guarded: trimmed with lace or braid, as in ‘guarded coat’
Gum: incense
Gybe: counterfeit licence or other document
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