Middle English Dictionary Entry
queller(e n.
Entry Info
Forms | queller(e n. Also (early) cwellere. |
Etymology | OE cwellere |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) An executioner; also, an official tormentor or torturer; (b) a murderer.
Associated quotations
a
- a1225(c1200) Vices & V.(1) (Stw 34)75/12 : He seððen betache ðe ðe pineres and ðe cwelleres.
- c1225(?c1200) St.Juliana (Bod 34)57/625 : [W]ið þis, as ha stute, stoden þe cwelleres & ȝeiden lud steuene, 'Mihti lauerd is þe þet Iuliene on leueð.'
- c1225(?c1200) St.Kath.(1) (Bod 34)128/896 : Heo..strahte uorð swiftliche þe snahwite swire, ant cweð to þe cwellere..'do nu þenne hihentliche þet te is ihaten.'
- c1300 SLeg.(LdMisc 108)82/31 : Þe þreo quellares..To is fet huy feollen a-kneo and forȝiuenesse him bede; Þare-fore was þe feorþe wroth..And smot of þe guode mannes heued.
- c1300 SLeg.Jas.(LdMisc 108)116 : Heroudes ȝaf his dom a-non, his þrote to smite a-two; And Iosie þe quellare he was bi-take þulke dede for-to do.
- c1300 SLeg.Kath.(Hrl 2277)283 : Whar beo ȝe, mi quellers..Þis wicche ȝe schulle faste bynde: & wiþoute þe toun lede & smyte of hire heued anon.
- a1325 SLeg.Juliana (Corp-C 145)205 : Þe quellare, as he[o] bad hure beden, drou is swerd kene He smot of hure heued fram hure body.
- a1350(a1325) SLeg.Cec.(Ashm 43)237 : No quellare ne moste bi þulke daie smyte ouer þrie.
- c1390 NHom.John Bapt.(Vrn)58 : He sente his quellere son And bad hire wille schulde beo don.
- a1425(?c1375) NHom.(3) Leg.(Hrl 4196)68/379 : Vnto þe queller gaf he mede In mirk stede forto do þat dede, And so he gert þe heuid of strike Of a wether þat was him like.
- a1425 Celestine (LdMisc 463)646 : Com forþ, quellere, it is no bote aȝein þese deoueles forto mote.
- ?a1475 Banester Guiscardo (Add 12524)404 : The prince..Made hym full pytuosly to be slayne, Chargyng the quellers off hym..To do hym the most dyspyte off tormente.
b
- a1450 WBible(2) (Corp-O 20)Tob.3.9 : Quellere [Roy: Thou sleeresse of thin hosebondis].
- c1450 Alph.Tales (Add 25719)42/7 : Þe men of þe town rase up & soght þis mans queller.
- a1525 Conq.Irel.(Dub 592)44/5 : He t[oke hym] selue to quellers ffor to arer þe seknes of holy chyrche.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
- a1500(1422) Yonge SSecr.(Rwl B.490)164/11 : Nobyll and gracious lorde .. sethyn god and oure kynge haue grauntid you powere, do ye therof Execucion in opyn fals enemys, traytouris, and rebelle trewmen-quelleris, whan thay fallyth Into youre handys.
Note: Postdates sense (b). Not entirely clear how to parse the words preceding "quelleris"; the punctuation adopted here assumes that the phrase is "treumen-quellers," i.e. 'murderers of loyalists' or 'of good men'?)' (treue adj., sense 1a.(a) or one of the weaker approbatory senses); and that "rebelle" further modifies this combination, i.e., 'rebellious killers of loyalists' or 'of good men.' But "rebelle" could also be taken as an unconnected noun or adjective (to be followed by a comma); and the phrase could rather be the simpler 'men-quellers,' qualified by 'treu' in the vaguely intensifying sense of 'real, actual.' In either case, the plural 'men' is a little surprising, since such compounds usually contain a nominally plural but grammatically singular object.