This question is entirely unrelated to religion, but is posed in the hope
that somebody reading it might be able to help me, or point me towards an
expert.
The meaning of a line in an Old French text that I have been editing has
remained completely unfathomable. The text deals with the crushing of grapes
(as an erotic metaphor) in the production of wine, and has evidently been
composed by somebody familiar with the process. When the workers are being
paid for their efforts, the text states that one of the workers was paid 4
deniers, but his employer wanted to pay him less, "por ce que trop costa la
laine". (It could equally be l'alaine, but that gets us no further). All
available reference works have been no help. I assumed that the expression
was some form of metaphor or slang (along the lines of "because he was too
indolent" - pure guess), but at a seminar, a colleague suggested that it
might really refer to wool costing too much, and that it might be used in
the filtration of the juice.
The material qualities of wool make this suggestion unlikely, but I would be
anxious to consult with an expert in the history of wine-making to discuss
the problem further, for works on this subject (e.g. Dion, Fourquin,
Lachiver) have hitherto been of of no help.
On a related note, I have exhausted my ideas regarding how to check the
(possible) name of a thirteenth century Parisian wine-crier (looking through
biographies etc.), and would appreciate any suggestions.
Many, many thanks,
DARON
Daron Burrows, Trinity College, Oxford University.
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