"Teseillun" in the "Vita S. Willelmi Norwicensis"Author(s): Alexander BellSource: The Modern Language Review, Vol. 40, No. 2 (Apr., 1945), p. 130Published by: Modern Humanities Research AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3717808 .

Accessed: 25/06/2014 05:15

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Modern Humanities Research Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend accessto The Modern Language Review.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 188.72.127.68 on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 05:15:59 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

130 Miscellaneous Notes

retiree', he says: 'La solitude est certainement vne belle chose; mais il y a plaisir d'avoir quelqu'vn qui sgache respondre, a qui on puisse dire de temps en temps que c'est vne belle chose.'

There was more than one reason why Cowper should feel attracted to Balzac. The older writer, because of ill-health, withdrew into the country and found pleasure and tranquillity in the company of his books and of nature. He was also a master of the epistolary art and in the seventeenth century won a great reputa- tion in England as well as in France. It is therefore interesting to see that in the latter half of the eighteenth century his work was still known to one of the greatest of English letter-writers.

HERBERT G. WRIGHT BANGOR

'TESEILLUN' IN THE 'VITA S. WILLELMI NORWICENSIS'

In his description of the tortures inflicted on the boy-inartyr, Thomas of Monmouth1 commences (I, 5): 'Quibusdam etenim eum a tergo tenentibus; alii aperto ori tormentum quod uulgo teseillun dicitur intromiserunt, atque per utrasque fauces ad posteriorem colli partem reductis corrigiis firmissimo astrinxerunt nodo.' On the occasion of the second discovery of the body we are told the finder 'ligneumque uidit in ore tormentum' (I, 11) and lastly, combining the two items of information, we learn of a priest that he had in his possession 'ligneum illud martiris tormentum quod uulgo Teseillun dicitur' {v, 5).

There are several allusions to the saint's beneficiaries speaking in the vernacular (e.g. v, 16, et materna lingua ait; v, 17, anglica lingua mater ait; vi, 12, lingua patria Patrem, patrem clamitabat), and in each instance the speaker is of humble origin. This probably explains why the translators adopt the rendering 'in English' in each instance, and the same line of thought .seems to have led them to take 'teseillun' as an English word and to translate it as 'teazle'. Of course, the absence of such a use from the O.E.D. does not invalidate the translation, but it does raise doubts which are not assuaged when we note that the form used by Thomas of Monmouth is not easily to be reconciled with the O.E. forms.

Another series of expressions used by the author suggests that these doubts are justified. We read that a dreamer saw 'pre pedibus [deor]sum lumina incli- nantem [pis]cem qui uulgo lucius dic[itur]' (i, 1), that a sufferer seeking relief at the tomb supported himself 'duobus quos uulgo potentias uocant baculis' (vii, 11), and that a deformed girl is brought by her father 'in uehiculo rotatili... quod ciueriam appellant' (vi, 16).2 Now the remarkable thing is that these vernacular expressions are Romance in origin, which suggests that the same may be true of 'teseillun'. Looked at in this light the word falls into place as a derivative ulti- mately of tensus, whether we regard it, with Gamillscheg (E. W.F. s.v. etr6sillon), as formed from O.Fr. teser parallel to O.Fr. estesillon<esteser, or, with Meyer- Liibke (R.E.W. 8649c) as formed from tensicula (>tr8saille), and denotes some kind of gag.

ALEXANDER BELL PETERBOROUGH

1 The Life and Miracles of St William of 2 Later in the same section a deformed boy is Norwich (Cambridge, 1896), ed. A. Jessopp and brought by his father 'in ciueria. ..rotatili'. M. R. James. %

130 Miscellaneous Notes

retiree', he says: 'La solitude est certainement vne belle chose; mais il y a plaisir d'avoir quelqu'vn qui sgache respondre, a qui on puisse dire de temps en temps que c'est vne belle chose.'

There was more than one reason why Cowper should feel attracted to Balzac. The older writer, because of ill-health, withdrew into the country and found pleasure and tranquillity in the company of his books and of nature. He was also a master of the epistolary art and in the seventeenth century won a great reputa- tion in England as well as in France. It is therefore interesting to see that in the latter half of the eighteenth century his work was still known to one of the greatest of English letter-writers.

HERBERT G. WRIGHT BANGOR

'TESEILLUN' IN THE 'VITA S. WILLELMI NORWICENSIS'

In his description of the tortures inflicted on the boy-inartyr, Thomas of Monmouth1 commences (I, 5): 'Quibusdam etenim eum a tergo tenentibus; alii aperto ori tormentum quod uulgo teseillun dicitur intromiserunt, atque per utrasque fauces ad posteriorem colli partem reductis corrigiis firmissimo astrinxerunt nodo.' On the occasion of the second discovery of the body we are told the finder 'ligneumque uidit in ore tormentum' (I, 11) and lastly, combining the two items of information, we learn of a priest that he had in his possession 'ligneum illud martiris tormentum quod uulgo Teseillun dicitur' {v, 5).

There are several allusions to the saint's beneficiaries speaking in the vernacular (e.g. v, 16, et materna lingua ait; v, 17, anglica lingua mater ait; vi, 12, lingua patria Patrem, patrem clamitabat), and in each instance the speaker is of humble origin. This probably explains why the translators adopt the rendering 'in English' in each instance, and the same line of thought .seems to have led them to take 'teseillun' as an English word and to translate it as 'teazle'. Of course, the absence of such a use from the O.E.D. does not invalidate the translation, but it does raise doubts which are not assuaged when we note that the form used by Thomas of Monmouth is not easily to be reconciled with the O.E. forms.

Another series of expressions used by the author suggests that these doubts are justified. We read that a dreamer saw 'pre pedibus [deor]sum lumina incli- nantem [pis]cem qui uulgo lucius dic[itur]' (i, 1), that a sufferer seeking relief at the tomb supported himself 'duobus quos uulgo potentias uocant baculis' (vii, 11), and that a deformed girl is brought by her father 'in uehiculo rotatili... quod ciueriam appellant' (vi, 16).2 Now the remarkable thing is that these vernacular expressions are Romance in origin, which suggests that the same may be true of 'teseillun'. Looked at in this light the word falls into place as a derivative ulti- mately of tensus, whether we regard it, with Gamillscheg (E. W.F. s.v. etr6sillon), as formed from O.Fr. teser parallel to O.Fr. estesillon<esteser, or, with Meyer- Liibke (R.E.W. 8649c) as formed from tensicula (>tr8saille), and denotes some kind of gag.

ALEXANDER BELL PETERBOROUGH

1 The Life and Miracles of St William of 2 Later in the same section a deformed boy is Norwich (Cambridge, 1896), ed. A. Jessopp and brought by his father 'in ciueria. ..rotatili'. M. R. James. %

This content downloaded from 188.72.127.68 on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 05:15:59 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions