Scottish Text Society publications > New series > Lancelot of the Laik

INTRODUCTION.
xxix
which the latter uses regularly in the sense of “ away ” or
even “ gone.” Cp.—
“We wening thaim hame passit and adew”
(yEn., Bk. II. ch. i. 1. 22),
and ‘ Lancelot ’—
“Your worldly honore nedis most adew" (1. 518).
A word which is capable of two interpretations is
ward, in 1. 3182—
“ For in the ward it was the maner tho
That non o knycht shuld be the brydill tak,”
which might be either wara7 = host, troop, as used by
Douglas—cp.,
“ Upon this wyb the ostis and wardis haill
On ather part returnyt in battaill”
(JEn., Bk. XII. ch. ix. 1. 109),
or simply warld.
There are words, too, uncommon in the particular sense
or form they possess, which are found also in the works of
Douglas—e.g., translat — tdS^^ away, liging (lying), mor
attour (Douglas, mair attour), recounterit, careldis (Douglas,
carellis), for the d, cp. cammamyld for camomile in Douglas.
The use of quhy as a substantive = cause, reason (remarked
on by Professor Lawson in his book on the ‘ Kingis
Ouair’), seems to have been not uncommon in Middle
Scots; besides occurring in ‘Kingis Quair,’ ‘ Quare of
Jelusy,’ and ‘Lancelot,’ it occurs in Douglas—
“ Syne zeild the to thy fa but ony quhy ”
(iFn., Bk. XL, Pro!., stanza 18),
and somewhat later in the poems of Alexander Scott, and
very frequently in Stewart’s ‘ Croniclis of Scotland.’