Could 'ground' refer to a ground fabric in the embroidery sense of the word? In this period, likely being linen?
Arlys, who hasn't a clue On Wed, 08 Feb 2006 16:34:19 -0600 Melanie Schuessler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > I'm wondering about the Wife of Bath and what she's got on her head > in > the Canterbury Tales: > > "Hir coverchiefs ful fyne weren of ground, > I dorste swere they weyeden ten pound > That on a Sonday weren upon hir heed." > > Mainly I'm wondering about the use of the word "ground" in the first > > line. I've seen a suggestion that this could translate to mean > "texture", as in "her coverchiefs were of a very fine texture". > > The OED doesn't seem to offer any goodies, but perhaps I missed > something--the entries for "ground" are quite long! Does anyone > have > other information about this? > > Thanks, > Melanie Schuessler > > _______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > h-costume@mail.indra.com > http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume > _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
