Talk:lende

I didn't want to put this on the front page since it is a bit long. There is often a lot of bewilderment about this.

Just to be clear lend and lende are singular; lendes and lenden are plural.

Old English/Anglo-Saxon had lende and lenden (usually seen in kennings like lende-brǽð (lumbar region), e, f: -brǽda, an; m. A loin). The plural was lendenu and this was a standalone word.

We still do the same thing today. We don't often use the word loin by itself but we can. We usually speak of loins in plural or a loin-steak (tenderloin, sirloin) or a loin of pork with potatoes in the singular ... It's no different now than then.

Before it was "gird your loins" it was "gird the lendes"!

Byspels: .

Tak we þe armor of God..gird þe lendis in trowþ.

Þe ne sti3te ne þe pri3te in side, in lende, ne elles-where

And fe3et and breste and lenden And for þe lecherye sy3t In lenden of þe manne..Me schel þe mannes lenden anelye. — Shoreham Poems

Quickly the saddle is laying too much in front, pressing the shoulder. Just a little bit too far behind means: pressing on the loins (Lenden). A delicate matter. — blog comment ... AnWulf ... Ferþu Hal! 19:13, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

RFV discussion: January–May 2014

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lende

google books:"his lenden" is just scannos of "leaden". google books:"the lendes" gets some Middle English citations that I can't make heads or tails of. - -sche (discuss) 09:27, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

Middle English Dictionary = "loins"

--Catsidhe ^{(verba, facta)} 10:04, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

Although when I look for google books:"his lendes" I get a few cites which seem to have lendes as meaning a troop of warriors with a close relationship to a king. (e.g., e.g., e.g.) --Catsidhe ^{(verba, facta)} 10:14, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

All those examples are in the context of France. Are they really Middle English? The second one explicitly identifies the language as Tudesque, whatever that is. SpinningSpark 11:25, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

Frankish, actually. And the term is used, as far as I can see, straight, as a technical term, and not in quotes or italics. So it's referring to a historical concept, but has apparently borrowed the term into the current language (in a similar way to byrnie). And Tudesque links to Theodiscus (theodiscus). --Catsidhe ^{(verba, facta)} 11:51, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

He thakked hire aboute the lendes weel (Chaucer) would seem to mean "He thoroughly slapped her on the loins" I would say that the entry should be changed from English to Middle English since there do not appear to be any recent citations. SpinningSpark 12:22, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

RFV-failed, moved to lendes#Middle_English. - -sche (discuss) 20:33, 29 May 2014 (UTC)