I came across this information whilst researching stuff for Ekkis’s thread on animals.  I posted some of these there, but it seemed that in order to do justice to them that they needed their own thread.  

Once again, these are from The Boke of St Albans.  Any help in clarifying my (?)s would be welcome.

a herd of harlots
a bevy of ladies
a congregation of people
a host of men
a fellowshipping of yeoman
a route of knights
a non-patience of wives
a thong (perhaps throng would be more appropriate?) of barons
a prudence of vicars
a supsluyte(?) of nuns
a school of clerks
a doctrine of doctors
a conutyng(?) of preachers
a sentence of judges
a dampening of jurors
a dilligence of messengers

an obesiance of thuauntis(?) (the first letter appears to be thorn rather than p, so I have substituted th.  One (or both) of the us could be v.  I am presuming that the i is now silent.  I wonder if the initial letter is merely an unusual variant of the long s, and if this could possibly be servants.  If it is a long s it is not repeated in the same form elsewhere when at the beginning of a word.  There is one instance of it in the middle of a word.  I have no idea what this word is!)

A set of ushers
a draught of butlers

a proud showing of taloris (I originally thought this was tailors, but then noticed tailors below, spelt taylours.  Is this possibly to do with someone who counts (tallys)?)

a tempans(?) of cooks
a stalk of fosters (people who foster?)

a boost of saudiouris(?)  (I wonder if this is a boast of soldiers)

a laughter of ostlers
a glosyng(?) of taverners (innkeepers)
a malapertness of pedlars
a thrave of throsheris(?) (threshers, I think)
a squat of dawbers(?) (appears to be daubers)
a fighting of beggars
an untruth of sompneris(?)
a melody of harpers
a pauuerty(?) (poverty?) of pipers
a subtlety of sergeants
a tabernacle of bakers
a drift of fishers (fishermen)
a disguising of tailors
a bleche(?) (bleach?) of sowteris(?)
a smere(?) (smear?) of couriers
a rage of maidens
a blush of boys
an incredibility of cuckolds
a skulk of thieves
a gaggle of women
a multiplying of husbands
a pontificate of prelates
a dignity of chanonys(?) (canons?)
a charge of curates
a discretion of priests
a sculke(?) sailke(?) of freris(?) (friars?)
an example of masters

an obthuans(?) of hermits (the th is, once again, what appears to be the thorn.)

an eloquence of lawyers
an execution of officers
a faith of merchants

a puision(?) ( I suggest puissant) of stewards of house (household stewards)

a kerff(?) of panteris(?)  (I wonder if kerff is related to kerf, derived from OE cyrf ‘cutting, a cut’ of W. Gmc origin: rel to carve.  Panteris appears to be to do with the pantry - the keeper of the pantry, but I’m not sure what the modern English word would be - perhaps pantryman(person?))  A carve of pantrymen?

a credence of sewers
an unbrewing of kerueris(?) (carvers?)
a safeguard of porters
a blast of hunters
a threatening of courtiers
a promise of tapsters
a lyeng(?) (lying?) of pardoners
a misbelief of painters
a lash of carters
a scolding of kemsteris(?)
a wandering of tinkers
a waywardness of haywards
a worship of writers

a neuthriuyng(?) of jugglers (the first u has a dot over it (not a macron), if it is meant to be a macron then I would guess non-thriving.  It may be that, anyway).

a ffraunch(?) of mylneris (My guess is milliners. OED says originally named after the city of Milan)

a festre(?) (fester?) of biweris(?)

a dronkship(?) (drinkship? do cobblers have a bad rep for drinking?) of cobblers

a rascal of boys
A disworship of Scots

a rage of the teeth

Fill in the blank:  a(n) ___________ of Agorians

I’ve just started a new topic for a collection of Agorians.  You can find it under ‘what’s the word’.

Sheesh. You just keep on making it harder, don’t you?
I haven’t got a complete list (I hope to with a little more time!) but here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

A superfluity of nuns is all I can find.
(I wonder if yours reads supfluyte?)

A counting of preachers
(Is yours countyng?)

An obeisance of servants
(seruauntis in the OED)

I find a hastiness of cooks
(I wonder if the temp- in your collective is to do with time.)

A stalk of foresters (foster = forester in the OED)

A glozing of taverners
(Glozing = "deceitful blandishment")

A thrave of threshers
(Pun - thrave is both a wheat sheaf and a term meaning "a lot")

A squat of daubers
(Daubers = plasterers)

An untruth of summoners
(OED has untroth. A summoner was a court official who served court orders)

A poverty of pipers

A bleach of souters
(Interesting - a souter is a shoe-maker, and bleach, I find, was originally a black dye, used on leather shoes.)

A smear of curriers
(A currier dresses and colours hide after it has been tanned.)

A dignity of canons

A skulk of friars
(And other skulking things, like foxes. There are lots of illustrative quotes for the collective skulk in the OED, but it is described as having "at no time any real currency" - much like myself.)

A puissance of stewards of the house (I think)
(puissance means both power and crowd, so I think there’s another pun in here, but I can’t find this specific usage in the OED)

A kerf of pantrymen
(Yes, kerf = cutting)

An unbrewing of carvers
(I don’t get this one)

A lying of pardoners
(Pardoners sold papal pardons)

A scolding of kempsters
(Kempsters were wool-combers - hence unkempt)

A never-throwing of jugglers (I think)
(Throwing also used to mean suffering, so there may be a pun in here. Again, I can’t track the usage, though the phrase from the Boke of St Albans is tantalisingly used as an example of the use of "never".)

I’m guessing fringe of milliners, for its pun value. Can’t find anything resembling ffraunch, though.

A drunkenness of cobblers
(Modern equivalent of dronkship)

Several holes still, sorry, but this lot was hard work.

Grant

Sheesh. You just keep on making it harder, don’t you?

Don’t blame me, blame the book!

I haven’t got a complete list (I hope to with a little more time!) but here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

What you have done is fantastic!  Thank you very, very much for putting so much time and effort in!

A superfluity of nuns is all I can find.
(I wonder if yours reads supfluyte?)

[quote author=Linnet link=board=omni;num=1031050959;start=0#0 date=09/03/02 at 07:02:39]an obthuans(?) of hermits (the th is, once again, what appears to be the thorn.)

Got it! The OED quotes the Boke of St Albans as "an obseruance of herimytes" and gives a definition of observance as "a company of religious persons".

[quote author=Linnet link=board=omni;num=1031050959;start=0#0 date=09/03/02 at 07:02:39]a neuthriuyng(?) of jugglers (the first u has a dot over it (not a macron), if it is meant to be a macron then I would guess non-thriving.  It may be that, anyway).

Yes, on reconsidering, I think you’re right. I got carried away with the pun and didn’t review the evidence properly. There isn’t an early variant of "throw" with thriu-, but "thrive" has a 15th century variant thriue. So, given the Boke‘s entry for jugglers is quoted in the OED as an example of the use of never, I guess this must be a never-thriving of jugglers.

[quote author=Linnet link=board=omni;num=1031050959;start=0#0 date=09/03/02 at 07:02:39]a ffraunch(?) of mylneris

For some reason I missed fraunch, "to devour", on my first search of the OED. "A devouring of milliners" seemed bizarre, so I went back to the OED and found that "milliner" is unrecorded at the time of the Boke. But "miller" is, in the form mylner for the 15th century! So my vote goes for "a devouring of millers" (or a greediness of millers?)

Grant

[quote author=granthutchison link=board=omni;num=1031050959;start=0#4 date=09/05/02 at 17:58:05] ... For some reason I missed fraunch, "to devour", on my first search of the OED. "A devouring of milliners" seemed bizarre, so I went back to the OED and found that "milliner" is unrecorded at the time of the Boke. But "miller" is, in the form mylner for the 15th century! So my vote goes for "a devouring of millers" (or a greediness of millers?) ...

Yes, I go with that definition.  Was it the Reeve’s tale in Chaucer that talked about the miller that had a golden thumb?  I. e., the weight of his thumb on the scale increase the apparent weight and cheated his customer.  It may have been a butcher in another tale, not a miller, but I remember hearing that term before.

..........  And after a quick search, he finds his brain cells can recall more than he thought they could ...

From http://www.bartleby.com/100/111.16.html

John Bartlett (1820–1905).  Familiar Quotations, 10th ed.  1919.
 
NUMBER: 16
AUTHOR: Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340–1400)
QUOTATION: And yet he had a thomb of gold parde. 1
ATTRIBUTION: Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 565.
BIOGRAPHY: Columbia Encyclopedia.
 
Note 1.
In allusion to the proverb, “Every honest miller has a golden thumb.”  

Since it’s from the Prologue, it must be describing the Miller in the company of pilgrims, and not the miller in the Reeve’s tale.

"Every honest miller has a golden thumb"

Another explanation I’ve seen for this phrase is that even an honest miller takes home some flour stuck to his thumb.
I wonder if there’s a connection here to the European freshwater fish, the Miller’s Thumb or Bullhead. One explanation of the fish’s name is that it resembles the thumb of a miller who has "had the misfortune to catch his thumb between two millstones".
But:
1) It is a golden brown colour
2) It is vaguely mottled, as if dabbed with flour
3) It hugs the bottom, like a thumb pressing downwards

So I could match it with any or all of the stories about the miller’s golden thumb!

Grant

From the Miller’s Prologue at:

http://www.learn.co.uk/glearning/primary/lessons/ks2/chaucer3/printout2.asp

Middle English version

18  Wel koude he stelen corn and tollen tries;
19  And yet he hadde a thombe of gold, pardee.

Modern English version

18  He was good at stealing corn and charging people three times;
19  And he had a magic golden thumb.

The full description of The Miller is not very flattering, this at a time when people believed outward appearances were an indication of the inward character.  I ran afoul of a high school English teacher teacher concerning the description of The Summoner:

...
Well loved he garlic, onions, aye and leeks,
...

He said that quote was meant to underscore the less than desirable character of The Summoner.  I thought, since I like onions and garlic, I’d probably like leeks too, so I thought it should not be held against him.  Wrong again, Buzzard Breath!

Chaucer writes of the Miller:

Wel koude he stelen corn and tollen thryes,
And yet he had a thombe of gold, pardee.  (General Prologue, 562-3).

(Well could he steal corn and charge three times the normal rate and, yet, he had a thumb of gold.)

The gloss adds: ‘Alluding to the proverb, ‘An honest millar hath a golden thumb’ (i.e. there aren’t any)’.  Sounds like another medieval stereotype, like that of the ‘drunkenness of cobblers’ from the Boke of St Albans.

On a similar vein, I have just been reading Terry Jones’s (of Monty Python fame) Chaucer’s Knight.  It demolishes the long-held myth that Chaucer’s knight is an ideal knightly figure.  Very interesting and entertaining reading.

Sorry, Stargzer… you obviously hit the post button for your last message just before I posted mine.  I had not the benefit of reading your message first.

[quote author=granthutchison link=board=omni;num=1031050959;start=0#2 date=09/03/02 at 19:41:20]
I find a hastiness of cooks
(I wonder if the temp- in your collective is to do with time.)

A dignity of canons

I have been researching these in my French dictionnaries.  My lead for the first is based on the word "tympan" from the greek "tumpanon".  Both meaning tambourine.  

Pots not only look like drums, a full fledge kitchen can be noisy.

A French canon is a "chanoine", a possible origin for Linnet’s extra "h".  (However, the latin origin is canonicus)

a wall of posters?
or should it be a troll of posters?

Hello, I’m new in this forum. I’ve been here a few months, read and think really interassante many topics. Now I decided to apologize to you to be notified. I hope I can contribute something.

—————————-
Greetz Christine

Good to have you among this “collection” of Agorians.  This is quite an interesting thread.
Be welcome, Dallara.

I’m new to this merry band. I first read the list of groups of animals and registered and lost it and found this. Both remind me of a book I have (whick is lurking in my bookshelves not wanting to be found) entitled An Exaltaton of Larks by James Lipton. I remember reading it in the late 60s. It opened a door to a dimension of poetry in English and I continue to be enthralled by that poetry. English is indeed mighty!

What amuses me (I am an ESL teacher) is that what makes this language so wonderful is its almost lack of form. It has collected words from all over the world (the proper term is ‘borrowed’ but I tend to call it ‘thieving’) and uses the words without impunity - often with no concern for the meaning of the original term (rare, but it does exist). In the terms of an analogy, it is to an artist with a pallet with a million colors now.

Exaltations aside, it is fun to traipse into this type of English. Thanks.

Language Maven - 28 June 2009 02:26 AM

I’m new to this merry band. I first read the list of groups of animals and registered and lost it and found this. Both remind me of a book I have (whick is lurking in my bookshelves not wanting to be found) entitled An Exaltaton of Larks by James Lipton. I remember reading it in the late 60s. It opened a door to a dimension of poetry in English and I continue to be enthralled by that poetry. English is indeed mighty!

What amuses me (I am an ESL teacher) is that what makes this language so wonderful is its almost lack of form. It has collected words from all over the world (the proper term is ‘borrowed’ but I tend to call it ‘thieving’) and uses the words without impunity - often with no concern for the meaning of the original term (rare, but it does exist). In the terms of an analogy, it is to an artist with a pallet with a million colors now.

Exaltations aside, it is fun to traipse into this type of English. Thanks.

WELCOME, Language Maven
to the Agora, so called, as you probably know, because the agora was the seat of discussion in ancient Greece.
We are, at the current time, a merry band.  But as you see your first posting is in a thread that has long been dead and your resurrected it.  Many “agora-ian”
have come and gone, and we are the current merry band, as you put it.
Hope you enjoy your stay.
You will probably enjoy the Grammar section as an ESL teacher.  We have a couple of folks there forever commenting and questioning.  Hope it is your “thing”.
The rest of us just plot along enjoying our time with puns, jabs, and otherwise inane comments.
I too read “Exaltation of Larks” , years ago.  I retired from teaching High School grammar.  The school I was teaching in, closed, and I got out: too much
hassel with todays rules, etc.  So here I am.  I enjoy the site, and hope you do too. Please contribute, it sounds like you have much to offer, and people come
and go so much, and few stay very long.  Hope you stay.
Be well.
Luke