Middle English Dictionary Entry
box n.(1)
Entry Info
| Forms | box n.(1) Also busshe. |
| Etymology | OE box; also cp. OF buis (both from L buxus, ult. Gr. pyxos). |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) The box tree (Buxus sempervirens) or its wood; ~ tre; ~ table, a tablet of boxwood (for inscriptions); (b) rendering L sambucus 'elder' erroneously.
Associated quotations
a
- c1350 Cmb.Ee.4.20.Nominale (Cmb Ee.4.20)665 : La buce: box.
- (a1382) WBible(1) (Dc 369(1))Is.30.8 : Wryt to it vp on a box table [WB(2): on box] and in a boc bisili graue it.
- (a1382) WBible(1) (Dc 369(1))Is.60.13 : The fyrr tree and box [WB(2): box tre].
- (c1385) Chaucer CT.Kn.(Manly-Rickert)A.1302 : He lyk was to biholde The box tree or the asshen dede and colde.
- (c1385) Chaucer CT.Kn.(Manly-Rickert)A.2922 : How the trees highte..assh, box, chestayn, lynde.
- (c1390) Chaucer CT.NP.(Manly-Rickert)B.4588 : Of bras they broghten bemes and of box.
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)216b/b : Boxe hatte boxus..þis tree is alway grene..a table of box þat is wel y planed fongeþ white colour and þer Inne dyuers lettres..beþ y wryte.
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)217a/a : Þe schauynge of box..stauncheþ þe flux if it is y sode..and dyeþ here..þe sauour þer of is bitter..Also of box beþ boxes y made to kepe Inne..spicery.
- (1430) Will York in Sur.Soc.308 : j pecten de ebore..j pecten de busshe.
- c1430(c1380) Chaucer PF (Benson-Robinson)178 : The hardy asshe, The piler elm..The boxtre pipere.
- c1430(c1386) Chaucer LGW (Benson-Robinson)866 : Pale as box she was.
- a1450 Hrl.Cook.Bk.(1) (Hrl 279)35 : Caste Box leves a-bouyn [the gingerbread].
- ?c1450 Stockh.PRecipes (Stockh 10.90)103/19 : Ȝyf a wood hownd hawe betyn ony man. Take þe seed of þe box-tree..and ȝif it him.
- (1465) Paston (Gairdner)4.202 : A payr of large tabelles of box, pris vj s. viij d.
- ?c1475 *Cath.Angl.(Add 15562)17b : A Box tre: buxus.
- a1500(?c1425) Spec.Sacer.(Add 36791)99/4 : When we haue no palmes, let vs bere lorey or boxe, the whiche for here perpetual schynynge betokeneþ vertues.
- a1500 Sln.521 Recipes (Sln 521)141/6 : For bytyngge of a woodhownd. Take þe seed of box and stampe it with holy watyr.
- a1500 When nettuls (BodPoet e.1)p.269 : Whan box ber papur in euery lond and towne And thystuls ber berys.
b
- a1500 Mirror Salv.(Beeleigh)p.16 : The werld..men may likne til a Boxtree [L sambucus], Of whilk the fruyt is sovre, the flower faire to thyn eghe.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Based on W. Rothwell's argument ("Soil and toil: English and French in the English Countryside in the Later Middle Ages," English Studies 90:4 (2009), p.381) that the word in question is simply a spelling of French bois [echoing L boscus], the following example has now (May 2020) been removed from this entry: (1300) Survey Wychwood in Archaeol.37 437: "Boscus Abbatis de Wynchecombe qui vocatur le Boxe."