Middle English Dictionary Entry
bācǒun n.
Entry Info
| Forms | bācǒun n. Also bak(o)un, bakon, -en, -in. |
| Etymology | AF bac(o)un, CF bacon. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) Pork cured in brine or by smoking; esp. salt pork or a cut of it; salt ~; seind ~, smoked pork; ~ hog, a hog fattened for butchering; (b) bacoun flich or flik, a side of bacon; (c) with reference to the custom at Dunmow, Essex, of awarding a side of bacon to spouses who live a year and a day without quarreling.
Associated quotations
a
- c1330 Why werre (Auch)387 : For beof ne for bakoun..Unnethe wolde eny don a char.
- c1380 Firumb.(1) (Ashm 33)2696 : Wiþ motoun, & bef & bakouns and othre gode vytayle.
- c1390 PPl.A(1) (Vrn)7.271 : I have no salt Bacon.
- (c1390) Chaucer CT.NP.(Manly-Rickert)B.4035 : Seynd bacoun and som tyme an ey or tweye.
- (c1395) Chaucer CT.WB.(Manly-Rickert)D.418 : For wynnyng wolde I al his lust endure And make me a feyned appetit; And yet in bacoun hadde I neuere delit.
- a1450 Hrl.Cook.Bk.(1) (Hrl 279)6 : Bakon y-boylyd.
- a1450-a1500(1436) Libel EP (Warner)306 : Now bere and bacone bene fro Pruse ibroughte Into Flaundres.
- c1450(c1353) Winner & W.(Add 31042)251 : The bemys benden at the rofe, siche bakone there hynges.
- (a1475) Fortescue Gov.E.(LdMisc 593)132 : In Fraunce the peple salten but lytill mete, except thair bacon.
- a1500(?a1410) Lydg.CB (Lnsd 699)128 : The labourer is gladder at his plow Erly on morwe to feede hym on bacoun [etc.].
- a1500 Bring us (BodPoet e.1)p.286 : Bryng vs in no befe..Bryng vs in no bacon..Bryng vs in no mutton..But bryng vs in good ale.
- (?a1500) Doc.in Dugdale Monasticon 1443 : She must purvey iiij bacon hogis for the covent.
b
- (1392) Acc.Exped.Der.in Camd.n.s.52155/23 : Pro vij flichches j qr. de bacon, xx s.
- c1450 Alph.Tales (Add 25719)482/23 : I mot hafe..loste my bakyn flyk.
- (1462) Will York in Sur.Soc.30261 : iiij bakon fliks, ij beffe fliks.
- (1472-3) RParl.6.37b : vi Flikkes of Bacon.
- (?a1500) Doc.in Dugdale Monasticon 1445 : Sche shall understond that a flytch of bacon contenigh x messe.
c
- (c1395) Chaucer CT.WB.(Manly-Rickert)D.217 : The bacon was nat fet for hem, I trowe, That som men han in Essex at Donmowe.
- c1400(a1376) *PPl.A(1) (Trin-C R.3.14)[10.190] f.25a : Þeiȝ þei don hem to dunmowe..To folewe aftir þe flicche, fecche þei it neuere, But ȝif þei boþe be forsworn, þat bacoun þei tyne.
- a1456(a1426) Lydg.Mum.Hertford (Trin-C R.3.20)186 : Þeos dotardes..Haue ageyn hus a gret quarell nowe sette; I trowe þe bakoun was neuer of hem fette Awaye at Dounmowe in þe Pryorye.
- c1475(c1450) Idley Instr.(Cmb Ee.4.37)2.A.2205,2213 : I can fynde no man that will enquere The perfite weies vnto Dunmowe..to goo so ferre for a litell bacon flycche..It were petie allsoo thabbey shold be oppressed..Or her bacon..shold be lessed.
2.
The whole carcass of a pig.
Associated quotations
- (1348) Acc.R.Dur.in Sur.Soc.9943 : In 1 bacon empt., 2 s. 11 d.
- c1436 Ipswich Domesday(2) (Add 25011)195 : Of eche bakoun [F bacun enter], obole. Of the flyche, quadrans.
3.
A sheepskin of some kind (?different word).
Associated quotations
- (1471) Doc.Leiden in Leidsche Textielnijverheid 1p.489 (no.435) : Primo, ubi mercatores opidi Leidensis lacerant voluntarie pelles aliquas lanutas nuncupatas vulgariter 'bacons', quod teneantur easdem sic ruptas penes se retinere aut earum valorem reddere.
- (1478) Let.Cely (PRO S.C.1 53/17)p.27 (30/5) : It were grete comford for me to here..in wat case my good ys in at Caleys: my fell, the bacons for to be deperde -- and make all sengyll fell, and sorte Cottyswolde on themselve.
- (1477) Doc.Leiden in Leidsche Textielnijverheid 1p.611 (no.501) : Item quod vellera, dicta 'bacons,' sint sicut de jure esse tenentur, et si aliter reperiantur esse, quod in illum eventum tunc similiter removeri et excipi possint.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: With reference to the mysterious sense 3., Hanham contends (English Studies 42, 1961, p. 139) that 'baconibus' in a Law Merchant case of ca. 1290-91 (Cases Concerning the Law Merchant, vol.3, p.149) refers to these same sheep skins, but the context is non-specific and ordinary porcine 'bacons' is the much more likely interpretation. (This reference is dropped in her note on the line (EETS 273, 1975, p. 256.) In any case the 'bacons' of the Cely letter and vernacular 'bacons' that recur in the Dutch documents (agreements between the Commissioners of the City of Leiden and the merchants of the Staple at Calais) appear certainly to be identical. But what they are, or whether the word is properly English or Dutch/Flemish, remain unknown.