Middle English Dictionary Entry
lollerīe n.
Entry Info
| Forms | lollerīe n. |
| Etymology | From loller(e . |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
= Lollardie.
Associated quotations
- (c1426) Audelay Poems (Dc 302)34/670 : And ȝif þe secular say a soþ, anon þai bene e-schent, And lyen apon þe leud men and sayn hit is lollere.
- c1450(c1430) Brut-1430 (Glb E.8:Kingsf.)308 : In the same yere of kynge henryis Regne the V, sir John Oldcastell..was arestid for lollerye and commyttid to the toure of london.
- a1500 Satir.Procl.(Add 46846)167 : For usyng of lollarye I myght not abide in Englond.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
- c1475(c1450) ?Scrope Mirror World (Bod 283)1923 : The grettest pride that is, it is lollerie: is not that a grete pride as whan a veleine or an olde wicche, the whiche knoweth not aright the pater noster, wenyth to knowe more devynite than al the clerkys of Cambriche and wenyth to be better than al the monkes of the Chartirhous, and wil not beleve that God maye doo nothynge in erthe but that theye maye vndirstande and see?
Note: To be a 'loller' in this text seems to imply that one has adopted an over-curious or rationalized faith of some sort: a loller is someone who judges dogma by the light of their own reason (12720); who fails to accept the full doctrine of the church (1917); and who 'believes too little' (as opposed to the superstitious or credulous, an equal but opposite fault, 1948).
Note: "Lollerie and lollerris .. in the Mirroure .. invariably translate the French bougrerrie and bougre(s) and are employed as no more than general words of opprobrium for heresy and heretics" -- Raymo, note in line 1917. This may be a distinction without a difference, since it is quite possible that not only the word, but the context, has been translated from the French. Note that the specific doctrine that the 'lollers' are said to deny in this passage is that of real presence (transubstantiation) in the sacrament.