Middle-English Word of the Day - December 18, 2007
Musen (v.) - to ponder, wonder, study, linger about a matter, to sniff as a hound (from *muse, meaning a muzzle, nose of an animal).
As he which in his hihe mod
Was likende of his hote blod,
A yong, a freissh, a lusti knyht,
As he lai musende on a nyht
Of the tidinges whiche he herde,
He thoghte assaie hou that it ferde.
- Gower, John: Confessio amantis (1390-1393)
Pronunciation: /musEn/
Key
/m/ m in make
/u/ oo in boot
/s/ s in hiss
/E/ e in met
/n/ n in no
The Middle-English Word of the Day is selected from Mayhew and Skeat's
"Concise Dictionary of Middle English."
As found on Greg Lindahl's website
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/concise/concise.html
The example text was found at the
Middle English Collection
of the
University of Virginia Library.
http://etext.virginia.edu/collections/languages/english/mideng.browse.html
The approximate pronunciation is determined using Carol Hamill's Middle English Pronunciation Guide
and noted using upon the ASCII-IPA Standard
http://www.island.net/~hamill/medieval/mepronunc.html
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/IPA/
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