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Posted by Glyn Pursglove on July 4, 2008, 5:36 pm, in reply to "http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2008/July08/canticum_acd22503.htm"
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A modern reference work such as A Chaucer Glossary, edited by Norman Davis and others (Oxford, 1979) proposes three definitions for "lewed": (a) ignorant; lay, not clerical (b) stupid, worthless (which is how they gloss the miller's use of the word) and (c) lewd, lascivious. Given Chaucer's subtlety it would be foolhardy to limit this instance of the word to any one of these meanings (which is why I quoted the word a second time, rather than 'translating' it). Which meaning one thinks is uppermost would depend on one's reading of the whole character and narrative method of the Merchant - not a topic it would be sensible to pursue at length in this musical context!
G.P.
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