Middle English Dictionary Entry

rọ̄f n.
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Entry Info

Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)

1.
(a) A roof; also, the framing structure of a roof independent of its outer covering; also fig.; bastel (chaumbre, chirche(s, halle, hous) ~ [see bastel n., etc.]; (b) a shelter from the elements; (c) the outer covering of a beehive; (d) the covering of a tent; (e) fig. the lid of a coffin or burial vault.
2.
(a) A rooftop; a housetop; (b) a roof as the highest part of a building or as a high or an exposed place; also fig., in phrase: rote and ~.
3.
The interior surface or area of a roof, ceiling, or vault; the areas amid the rafters; bi ~ and ground, at the ceiling and at the floor.
4.
(a) A dwelling, building; under ~, in a building, under shelter; also, into a house; (b) ~ of heven (reinboue), heven ~, the vault of heaven.
5.
The roof of the mouth, palate; ~ of the mouth.
6.
In cpds. and combs.: (a) ~ gable, a gable; ~ nail(s, nails for securing roof tiles or shingles; ~ til [OE hrōf-tigel], ceramic tile or stone slate used for roofing; (b) ~ tre, the central beam of a roof to which the upper ends of the rafters attach, a ridge pole; also, a rafter; (c) ~ spret (tre), naut. a spare spar.
7.
In surname and place names.

Supplemental Materials (draft)

  • (1472-74) Acc.St.Andrew Hubbard in BMag.31532-533 : Payed for tyling of the Chirche..for ij Dayes..; item, for ij C Tyle, xvj d.; item, for iiij rose [?read: rofe] Tyles, iiij d.
  • (1478-80) Acc.St.Andrew Hubbard in BMag.3237 : Payde for ij Ml tyle for the Chirche, xj s.; item for a Ml of Rose nayle, viij d.; .. for a quarter & di. of Rose tyle, xij d.
  • (1480-82) Acc.St.Andrew Hubbard in BMag.32150 : First, paid for Ml tile, price v s. vj d.; item, paid for a quartron rose tyle, xvj d.
  • (1480-82) Acc.St.Andrew Hubbard in BMag.32150 : Paid to the tiler for rose naile and sprig, ij d.
Note: Probably all errors for compounds in 'rofe-' (sense 6.(a)); the emendation from 'rose Tyles' to 'rofe Tyles' ('roof tiles') is an easy one, especially since 'rofe nayle' appears nearby in the same account, --but note that some further emendation or interpolation would likely be necessary, since 1 d. per tile (in the 1472 example) is 20 times the going rate for ordinary roof tiles (see Salzman); the companion item of 200 tiles for 16 d. is closer to the mark. Either the 'rose tiles' are something very special and really are 'rose tiles' (tiles bearing the image of, or shaped like, a rose?), or, more likely, 'iiij' should be taken to mean either "iiij C" (which would make the tiles very cheap), or "one quarter" (?i.e. of the previous '200'), which would give 'rofe' tiles the same unit cost as the undistinguished 'tiles'--or an error for "xxxx", which would put them in a similarly appropriate price range. Note that subsequent examples of 'rose tile' measure them in 'quarters,' which supports that intepretation of the 1472 quotation. If the 'rose tile' really all are errors for 'rofe tile' (etc.), then the 'rose nail(es)' are certainly 'rofe nail(es)'.

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: Med., etc. (sense 5.), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. roof of (the) mouth.