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Middle-English Word of the Day - 9/5/07

Tarien (v.) - To delay in acting, tarry, procrastinate; be slow to do something; to hinder.

What sholde I tarien al the longe day?
He took the chalk, and shoop it in the wise
Of an ingot, as I shal yow devyse.
I seye, he took out of his owene sleeve
A teyne of silver -- yvele moot he cheeve! --
Which that ne was nat but an ounce of weighte.

- Chaucer, Geoffrey: The Canterbury tales (1387-1394)

The Middle-English Word of the Day is selected from Greg Lindahl's
"Concise Dictionary of Middle English."
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

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