inestimables vertus

Cf. Polydore Vergile, De Inventoribus rerum, VI, 1: «Mille lini usus sunt» etc. Rappelons que R., comme Pline, confond le chanvre et le lin.

Notes

Circe

Circe gives Odysseus a drugged potion. Black-figure skyphos from Thebes, 5th or 4th c. BCE

Circe

So they stood in the gateway of the fair-tressed goddess, and within they heard Circe singing with sweet voice, as she went to and fro before a great imperishable web, such as is the handiwork of goddesses, finely woven and beautiful, and glorious.

Circe

Now good Aeneas, when the last rites were duly paid and the funeral mound was raised, as soon as the high seas were stilled, sails forth on his way and leaves the haven. Breezes blow on into the night, and the Moon, shining bright, smiles on their voyage; the sea glitters beneath her dancing beams. The next shores they skirt are those of Circe’s realm [Circeii, a promontory of Latium, but once an island, is identified by Virgil with Homer’s island of Aeaea, the home of Circe], where the wealthy daughter of the Sun thrills the untrodden groves with ceaseless song and in her proud palace burns fragrant cedar to illuminate the night, while she drives her shrill shuttle through the fine web. From these shores could be heard the angry growls of lions chafing at their bonds and roaring in midnight hours, the raging of bristly boars and caged bears, and huge wolfish shapes howling. These were they whom, robbing them of their human form with potent herbs, Circe, cruel goddess, had clothed in the features and frames of beasts. But so that the pious of Troy should not suffer so monstrous a fate on entering the harbour and setting foot on the accursed shore, Neptune filled their sails with favouring winds, giving them flight, and bore them past the seething shallows.

esbatement

A sporting, playing, dallying, ieasling, recreation

esbatement

Esbatement, divertissement:

Atant es Gaudifer mouit effraement,
Caldains et Arabis les banieres au vent
Qui oient les grans cops et le martelement;
Certes, dient li Grieu, a nostre entendement
Encour n’avons vue si bel tournoiement;
Or les laissons .I. poi en cest esbaitement.
— Venus dou paon, Richel. 1554

Circe

Homer Od, x 221-3; Virgil Aeneid vii. 10-14.

Circe

Arguto tenues percurrens pectine telas — Virgile, Énéide, VII, 14.

Circe

L’enchanteresse Circé est plus connue par la métamorphose des compagnons d’Ulysse en pourceaux (Odyssée, x, 203 sqq.) que pas ses talents de fileuse, évoqués cependant par Virgile (Énéide, VII, 14).

de l’esbatement nocturne de la noble Circe:

This phrase added in the edition of 1552.

de l’esbatement nocturne de la noble Circé:

Virgile, Énéide, VII, v. 14; addition de 1552 (var. b).

Circe

C’est Virgile, Enéide, VII, 14, qui occupe, la nuite, Circé à cette tâche («Arguto tenuis percurrens pecctine telas»).

ébattement

Divertissement, distraction, amusement

Notes

Scutching hemp

Woman scutching hemp with the melita, Sibu County ca. 1940. Emil Fischer. Folkwear Society Technics.

Scutching

Scutching is a step in the processing of cotton or the dressing of flax or hemp in preparation for spinning. The scutching process separates the impurities from the raw material, such as the seeds from raw cotton or the straw and woody stem from flax fibers. Scutching can be done by hand or by a machine known as a scutcher. Hand scutching of flax is done with a wooden scutching knife and a small iron scraper. The end products of scutching flax are the long flax fibers, short coarser fibers called tow, and waste woody matter called shive.

To scutch flax by hand, the scutching knife is scraped down with a sharp strike against the fibers while they hang vertically. The edge of the knife is scraped along the fibers to pull away pieces of the stalk. This is repeated until all of the stalk has been removed and the flax is smooth and silky. When scutching was done by hand, people could scutch up to 15 pounds (6.8 kg) of flax in one day, depending on the quality of the flax, as coarser flax, harder flax, and poorly retted flax takes longer to scutch. Retting removes the pectins that bind the fibers to the stalk and each other, so under-retted flax is harder to separate from the stalk, and often gets damaged in the scutching process. Over-retting the flax causes the fibers to deteriorate and break. These broken fibres are called codilla, which can be used along with heckled tow to make yarn.

In the scutching process, some of the fiber is also scutched away along with the stalk, a normal part of the process.

Teillage

Le teillage (action de teiller) est une opération mécanique qui permet de séparer les fibres textiles du bois et de l’écorce par broyage et battage. Il s’applique également aux fibres de chanvre et de lin.

Teillage du chanvre
Le teillage est une étape du travail du lin et du chanvre effectuée après le broyage des tiges. Les fibres textiles sont séparées du bois pour obtenir de la filasse de 70 à 80 cm de longueur. À l’époque ce travail était fait à la main durant les veillées. Il faut prendre le brin de lin/chanvre à son extrémité la plus grosse et dégager la rognure de sa filasse de manière à «déchausser» la tige. Puis tirer sur le bout de ruban obtenu et arracher toute la filasse du brin. Le geste est répété jusqu’à accumuler une poignée de filasse qui est nouée pour donner une queue de chanvre. Ce travail est aujourd’hui mécanisé2

L’ouvrier qui teillait portait au xvie siècle le nom de «tellie » dans le nord de la France. On le nomme aujourd’hui «teilleur» ou «tilleur».

syphons

Ce sont, dit l’Alphabet de l’auteur, ces tuyaux ès fontaines qui jettent l’eau, et qui par le moyen et force de l’air, rendent un son et sifflement, d’où ils ont pris leur nom.

in the manner of siphons

[note illegible]

par le bondon

Bouchon de bois fermant la bonde.

s’Esbahir

s’Esbahir. To wonder, marvell, be astonied, wax amazed, at.

Notes

Chènevotte

CHÈNEVOTTE XV^e S. Partie ligneuse d’une tige de chanvre dont on a separé la partie filamenteuse, et qui sert dans les campagnes à chauffe les fours, à faire des allumettes.

CHÈNEVOTTER 1762. (Agricult.) Pousser en tiges grêles, minces comme la chènevotte.