Middle English Dictionary Entry
teter n.
Entry Info
| Forms | teter n. Also tetir(e, tetre; pl. teteres, etc. & tetteris & tetores, tetoures, tetures. |
| Etymology | OE teter, tetra. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) Any of several diseases of the skin characterized by scabby eruption, scaling, and a tendency to spread: eczema, ringworm, impetigo, herpes; (b) a circumscribed tumor or lesion on the skin characterized by superficial crustaceous pustules; (c) ~ wort, the greater celandine (Chelidonium majus).
Associated quotations
a
- ?a1200(OE) Hrl.HApul.(Hrl 6258B)93/6,7 : Wið sceb & wið teter, nim þeos wyrt..heo ȝenimð þane scurf & þane teter.
- ?a1200(OE) Hrl.MQuad.(Hrl 6258B)243/8 : Wið teter of anwlitan to do, heortes horn ȝebærnedne meng wið ele & smire.
- a1325 Add.15236 Recipes(2) (Add 15236)244.63 : Item, ad delendum omne genus tetrys humani corporis.
- (a1387) Trev.Higd.(StJ-C H.1)2.61 : Þere beeþ hoote bathes, þat wascheþ of teteres [L scabredines], oþer sores and scabbes.
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)251a/b : Of whete is y-made oyle þat helpeþ in..tetres [L impetiginem] if it is wel y-froted wiþ a rowh cloþ.
- a1400 Alphita (SeldArch B.35)167/33 : Serpigo, inueterata uel indurata impetigo idem: gallice, derte; anglice, teter.
- c1465(?1373) *Lelamour Macer (Sln 5)32a : Yf a man haue scabbis oþer tetterys, seþe this erbe well in water and washe þe body in that water.
- ?a1425 *Chauliac(1) (NY 12)5b/b : Of þe morphe & serpigine, i. teter, scabie & ycchyng sironez, i. handwormez.
- c1425 Arderne Fistula (Sln 6)83/17 : Auripigment..availeþ in medicynez agaynz þe scabbe, þe tetre and white morfee.
- ?c1425 Chauliac(2) (Paris angl.25)390/4 : Spotty infecciouns of þe skyn..if..þai be..vneven and bylede, þai ben cleped scabbe, teterys, and drye scabbes, noghtwiþstondinge þat Lamfrank and Henry semen to ioye moche þe difference of ham.
- ?c1425 Chauliac(2) (Paris angl.25)392/32 : Þo [infections]..þat ben mouable and crepande, þai ben..icleped serpigines, þe whiche ben comunely callede teteres [L derbes] or ryng wormes and þe fleynge fyre.
- a1450 Agnus Castus (Roy 18.A.6)181/26 : Teteres and scabbes [Stockh: Marubium..helyth bothe quetures and scabbis].
- ?a1450 Agnus Castus (Stockh 10.90)141/11 : Carui..þat men clepe carawey..medled with esyle helyth scabbys and tetoures and bletches.
- ?a1450 Agnus Castus (Stockh 10.90)154/24 : Elebourrus..helyth schabbys and morfewe and tetures.
- c1450 Med.Bk.(1) (Med-L 136)248/793 : For the sausfleme and for the tetire: Take the poudre of brymstone and barowȝ grese and grynd hem togedir.
- a1500 Agnus Castus (LdMisc 553)153/4 : Ebulus..is good to destruye þe dropesye or sckabbes or tetores.
b
- ?c1425 Chauliac(2) (Paris angl.25)393/36 : To þe olde infecciouns forsoþe and properly to assafati, i. þe tetyr þat abydeþ stille in one place, Avicen prayseþ þe oynement.
c
- ?a1450 Agnus Castus (Stockh 10.90)142/14 : Celidonie is an herbe þat men clepe celydonye or teterwort..þis herbe helyth cancre and oþer sorys þat ben..in ony place in þe heed.
- a1500 MS Bod.536 in Cockayne Leechdoms3.346 : Teterwert.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Med., etc., see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. tetter.