medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: Henk 't Jong <[log in to unmask]>
> Hi Chris,
> You wrote:
>>and, i've previously mentioned abbot Udo [*never* Odo, btw]
_Canardus/Chenardus_ of St. Peter's of Chartres [d. 1150], the cognomen
being carried by the family and probably indicative of an heraldic plant.
> Couldn't it have been a nickname?
well, a cognomen is a kind of nickname.
_caput ferri_, for instance (which, i can't decide, means either "hard headed"
or "iron helm"); or "papillon"; or "Flagellus"; or "qui bibit aqua"; or "qui
verberat[?] ad panem" ["who speaks to his bread"??]...
most, but by no means all, cognomenaes (in the 11th-12th c. Chartrain, the
only region i know anything about) were toponymics or patronymics (though
those are not really cognomenses, in the strict sense of the word, as i
understand it).
>Because he walked 'duckfooted' for instance?
could be anydamned thing.
"niger" is found in a Blesois family over some generations --what, the guy was
"black"?
and, if walking "duckfooted" was an hereditary trait, passed down to the male
members over at least three generations (and detachable to the name of the
family seat, the modren Louville-la-Chenard, en plien Beauce), then that could
well be the origin of it, i suppose.
except that _chenardus/canardus_ doesn't mean "duck" in the 12th c.
that's a bit of a Fly in the hapless Researcher's Ointment.
>Or talked like Donald Duck?
yes, obviously, that must be it.
a well-known hereditary trait.
>I have never come across a heraldic plant called 'chenard' in all my practice
as a heraldist (36 years).
well, we don't really have to establish that "chenard" was used as an heraldic
emblem, do we?
only that it was a plant --it being well known that all sorts of plants were
put to that purpose by the middlevils.
for example:
chenard
CHENARD (che-nar) s. m.
Un des noms vulgaires du chènevis.
HISTORIQUE
XVIe s.
RONS[ARD?]., 747: Au lieu du bon froment est sorty la nielle, Chardons
pour artichaux, chenarde pour safran
ÉTYMOLOGIE
Le radical paraît être le même que dans chènevis.
[<Émile Littré, Dictionnaire de la langue française (1872-1877),
http://colet.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/dico1look.pl?strippedhw=chenard ]
and
CHÈNEVIS, subst. masc.
BOT. Graine du chanvre, utilisée comme appât pour les poissons et comme
nourriture des oiseaux en volière :
Les graines du chanvre (cannabis sativa, L), connues sous le nom de chenevis,
sont ovales, un peu comprimées, lisses, tronquées par un bout, pourvues à
l'autre extrémité d'une cavité ronde, d'un gris blanc.
J.-B. KAPELER, J.-B. CAVENTOU, Manuel des pharmaciens et des droguistes, t. 1,
1821, p. 180.
Étymol. et Hist. 1205-50 chanevis « graine de chanvre » (Renart, éd.
Martin, XXII, 54), forme attestée jusqu'au XVe s. (1487 canevis ds GDF.
Compl.); 1268 chanevuis, chenevis (E. BOILEAU, Métiers, 283, 159 ds T.-L.).
Chenevuis du lat. vulg. * (THOMAS (A.) Mél. Étymol.1, p. 50 et REW3, no
1599) dér. du lat. canapus (chanvre*), devenu chenevis (cf. vuide > vide*).
Fréq. abs. littér. : 22. Bbg. GOUG. Mots t. 2 1966, p. 125. SAIN. Sources
t. 2 1972 [1925], p. 244.
[Trésor de la Langue Française
<http://atilf.atilf.fr/dendien/scripts/tlfiv5/affart.exe?19;s=83578545;?b=0;
]
and
Nicot, Thresor de la langue française (1606)
chanvre (Page 112)
du Chanvre, Cannabis.
Chanvre rouy, Cannabis fluuiata.
Dictionnaire de L'Académie française, 1st Edition (1694)
CHANVRE. s. m. Plante qui porte le chenevis, & de l'escorce de laquelle on
fait de la filace. Chanvre femelle. chanvre masle. cueillir du chanvre. faire
roüir le chanvre.
Il signifie plus particulierement, L'escorce de cette plante. De beau chanvre.
tiller, broyer le chanvre. fil de chanvre. toile de chanvre.
Chenevis. s. m. Graine de chanvre. Semer du chenevis. ces Oiseaux-là vivent
de chenevis. mettre du chenevis dans l'auget.
Cheneviere. s. f. Lieu où l'on seme le chanvre, Il faut faire là une
cheneviere. la terre est trop seche pour y faire une cheneviere.
On appelle, Espouventail de cheneviere, Un certain phantosme, ou certain
paquet, qu'on met dans un champ, ou dans un jardin pour faire peur aux
oiseaux.
On dit d'Une personne laide & mal bastie, que C'est un épouventail de
cheneviere.
[http://colet.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/dico1look.pl?strippedhw=chanvre ]
so, clearly, we are in the presence of a bunch of ill-tempered, dope smoking
guys who walk [and talk] like a duck.
problemo solvo.
Q.E.D.
c
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