Middle English Dictionary Entry
tablet n.
Entry Info
| Forms | tablet n. Also tabelet, tabulet(te, tabulate, (?error) taplet; pl. tab(e)lettes, tabbletes. |
| Etymology | OF tablet, tabelet & tablete, tablette & ML tabulātum, AL tabuletta, tablettum. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) A small, portable writing tablet made of a durable material, often covered with wax in which the characters are incised; also, a stone or metal tablet bearing an inscription; also, one of the tablets of stone upon which God wrote the Ten Commandments; (b) a flat surface prepared to receive a painting or an engraving; also, such a painting or engraving; eccl. a reredos for an altar; (c) an ornament or a piece of jewelry having at least one flat surface; also, the flat setting in a piece of jewelry; (d) a flat piece of marble used as a tile; (e) a small, flattish or compressed cake of a medicinal substance, a troche, lozenge.
Associated quotations
a
- c1300 Evang.(Dlw 22)412 : He a tablet sone souhte Ant þer-on þe name of ion he wrouhte.
- c1350(a1333) Shoreham Poems (Add 17376)88/67 : Ten hestes haueþ y-hote god, Ase holy wryt ous tealde; Ope two tablettes of ston Wyþ hys finger bealde He hys wrot, Moyses by-tok.
- 1447 Bokenham Sts.(Arun 327)8838 : A yung man..Be-syde Agas graue dede stonde, And a taplet [?read: tablet] of marbyl held in hys honde wyth an epycaphye craftely graue þere-yn.
- ?a1450(1422) Lydg.SD (McC 182)64/9 : In þe yle of Capwe was fownden..a riche towmbe of stone, & þerin was fownde a litill tablet of golde grauen with Grekisse lettirs, seyenge, [etc.].
- c1450 Capgr.Rome (Bod 423)110 : In þis cherch lith sche and tiburcius, her husbond ualerianus his broþir, and urbane, as manifest writyng is þere in tablettis.
b
- (1395) EEWills5/25 : To the same Iohane my doughter I bequethe..a sacrynge belle, and alle of seluer; Also a tablet depeynt of tre.
- (1415) Invent.Agincourt in Archaeol.7098 : j tablet pro j altare.
- (1415) Invent.Agincourt in Archaeol.7099 : j Tablet de yvory quassato; j Tablet de plate argent, infra deauratum cum j ymagine de la Petee; j Tablet de Salutacione sancte Marie.
- (1434) Proc.Privy C.4.252 : Þe seyde Tresorer and Chamberleyns have delivered untoo þe seyde Cardynal a tablet of goold of þe Passioun of Cryst made yn þe manere of a booke.
- (1439) EEWills117/12,14 : I woll oure lady of Cauersham haue..ij tabelettes, the tone of seynte Katryne And the tother of seynt George..All so I woll the tabelet with the Image of oure lady with a glasse to-fore hit be offred to our lady of Walsyngham.
- (1451) Proc.Privy C.6.106 : A tabulet of gold wt an ymage of Saint George garnisshed with a ruby & viij diamoundes.
- (?1474) Stonor1.146 : Item, j crucifyxe of sylver y-gylt yn a tabelett of tree.
- 1618(1440) Invent.Cumberworth in Peacock EChurch Furniture182 : Item, a tablet of Copper guilt with a Crucifix therein and a paire fialls of pewter.
c
- (1394) Will York in Sur.Soc.4202 : Lego Domino Henrico de Percy..unum tablet de auro.
- (1398) Doc.in Riley Mem.Lond.550 : [Two] tabbletys [of gold].
- (1415) Invent.Agincourt in Archaeol.7098 : j Broche cum j tablet de auro.
- ?a1425(c1400) Mandev.(1) (Tit C.16)153/28 : Þei gon ij & ij to gedre..And euerych of hem bereth a tablett of Iaspere or of Iuory or of cristall.
- (1437) Proc.Privy C.5.62 : Item, delivered by youre said commaundement to my Lord of Gloucestre..a tabulet of gold with an ymage of Oure Lady hangyng by thre cheynes.
- (1437) Proc.Privy C.5.63 : A litell tabulet of gold maad in manere of a boke and enameilled wythynne on that oon side with an ymage of the Trinite and on that other side with an ymage of Oure Lady and her Sone.
- (1451) Lin.DDoc.46/18 : I will that my lord Cardenal of yorke haue a pare bedys of gold meynghid with corall, a tabelit of gold enperlid, & enameld with emaugde with-in.
- (1464-5) Acc.Howard in RC 57490 : My master payd to Arnold, goldsmythe, ffore a tablett of goold, iij li. xx d.
- a1475(?a1430) Lydg.Pilgr.(Vit C.13)9035 : Thow beyst hym many fressh Iowel And sparest nat off thy catel To beyn hym knyues & tablettys.
d
- (?1440) Palladius (DukeH d.2)6.195 : This scyment, brik, stoon, cley togeder drie..Now brode & thynne Tilette or tabulette of marbul stoon Empresse, and neuer shal this werk agoon.
e
- ?a1425 *Chauliac(1) (NY 12)160b/b : The fourme of my tabulate which I toke of Maister Stephan Arland: Recipe..conserue buglosse..turbith..sene..To þe same entensioun is diacasiafistula of Maister Tadei.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Med., etc., see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. tablet.