Middle English Dictionary Entry
sǒudēken n.
Entry Info
| Forms | sǒudēken n. Also sodeken(e, -on, -un, sodekne, sudekene, southdeken(e, -decone, suthdekne, suddeken(e, (K) sudeakne, sudiakne & (?error) sodeke; pl. sodeken(e)s, etc. & (K) suthdeaknes. |
| Etymology | OF sosdiakene, suzdiakene, soudiakne, sou(s)diaque, vars. of sosdïacre. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
Note: Cp. subdeken n.
a.
Eccl. A member of the lowest clerical order, ranking below the diaconate, a subdeacon; ordre of ~; popes ~, a subdeacon assisting at papal masses or attached to the Pope's household; (b) a member of an inferior class of servants in the Temple at Jerusalem, a Nathanite or Nathinean.
Associated quotations
a
- c1350(a1333) Shoreham Poems (Add 17376)50/1397 : Þe ordre of deakne..hys of more perfeccioun Þane hys ordre of sudeakne.
- (1340) Ayenb.(Arun 57)225/33 : Þe beheste is solempne ase..be holy ordre þet me heþ onderuonge, ase sudyakne oþer dyakne oþer prest.
- (1340) Ayenb.(Arun 57)235/7 : Chastete is of clerkes y-hoded ase byeþ suþdeaknes, dyaknes, prestes, and bissoppes.
- c1390 NHom.Widow's Candle (Vrn)28 : Heo saih comande..sodekne [NHom.(1) WC: suddeken] and dekne baþe.
- (1395) Wycl.37 Concl.(Tit D.1)149 : We comaunden..that thei of the forseid ordris, that is, prestis, dekenis, and sodekenis..kepen chastite, eete and sleepe togidere biside the chirchis, as it bihoueth religiouse clerkis.
- a1400(c1303) Mannyng HS (Hrl 1701)1681 : Ȝyf..þou art yn state of prest, Or yn two ordrys alþer nest, Suddekene, or dekene hy, Þys lettyþ weddyng & dede fleshly.
- c1400 Brut-1333 (Rwl B.171)163/27 : In presence of þe wise man Pandolf, þe Popis Suthdekne [vr. Sudekene], we makeþ liege homage, as it were in þe Popes presence.
- a1425 Mannyng HS (Dlw 24)1051 : Sodeke [Hrl: Ȝyf þou be 'infra sacros,' And art a clerk, & hast þe los Of subdekene, or dekene by name, So moche art þou þe more to blame].
- c1425 Mirror LM&W (Hrl 45)166/35 : The tenthe degree [of lechery] is bytwene a man in holy ordre, as preeste, deken, or sodeken, & a seculer womman.
- a1450 SLeg.Suppl.Bod.(Bod 779)405/38 : He ordeyned þat wit ech preste þat chal singe in see, dekene, sodekene & colyt at þe masse þey choldin be.
- a1450 St.Editha (Fst B.3)197 : Ordour of sodekyn forsothe he hade For a mone of holychirche he wolde haue be.
- c1450(?c1400) 3 KCol.(1) (Cmb Ee.4.32)146/15 : Her preestys..bere golde in her hande to þe autere, and þe decone bereþ encense, and þe southdecone bereþ mirre.
- c1450(?c1400) 3 KCol.(1) (Cmb Ee.4.32)152/22 : Þe preest and þe dekene and þe southdekene þei mete togeder on thre partyes, and so þei go to þe autere.
- (1466) Rec.St.Stephen in Archaeol.5037 : Vestementis: An hole sute of vestments of blewe damaske enbrawdet wt flouris of golde, for prest, dekyn, and sudekyn.
- a1475 Godstow Reg.(Rwl B.408)471/2 : The sentence of this lettre is that Iames Vercellence, the popis sodekon [L domini pape subdiaconus], person of Seynt Petir chirch in the Est of Oxenford, willed to be know to his welbeloued ladies Abbesse and Couent of Godestowe.
- c1425(?c1400) Wycl.Apol.(Dub 245)39 : If ani of prestis, dekunis, or sodekunis..hold concubyn opunly, or leuiþ not heer þat he holdiþ..vpon almiȝti Goddis half..we bid him..syng no messe.
- a1500(?a1400) SLChrist (Hrl 3909)3083 : Ho segh comyng serge-berers solempnely, deken, southdeken hom suyng, And prest reuescht ful rialy.
b
- (a1382) WBible(1) (Bod 959)1 Esd.2.43 : Soodeknes [WB(2): Nathynneis; Gloss.: these baren wode and water to the hows of Goddis religioun], sones of oȝay.
- (a1382) WBible(1) (Bod 959)1 Esd.2.70 : Þanne dwelleden þe prestis & þe leuæi] in þer citees.
- (a1382) WBible(1) (Bod 959)2 Esd.11.21 : Þe soodeknes..dwelleden in ophel & cyacha & gaspha of þe soodeknes [vr. sodekins].
- (1440) PParv.(Hrl 221)462 : Sodekene, or subdekene..nathineus.