Middle English Dictionary Entry
clōte n.
Entry Info
| Forms | clōte n. Also clate, clotte. |
| Etymology | OE clāte |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
Note: Cp. clete.
1.
(a) The common burdock (Arctium lappa), the more ~; also, any of several similar plants, including the smale ~ (Arctium minus); (b) ~ lef.
Associated quotations
a
- ?a1200(OE) Hrl.HApul.(Hrl 6258B:Berberich)117.96/1 : Þeos wyrt..philantropos..engle hateð clate.
- a1300 Hrl.978 Vocab.(Hrl 978)557 : Lappa i. bardane i. clote.
- (c1384) WBible(1) (Dc 369(2))Hos.9.6 : A nettil shal enherit the desirable syluer of hem, a cloote [L lappa] in the tabernaclis of hem.
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)232b/b : Lappa, þe clote, is an herbe wiþ brode leues..and haþ..knottes..þat ofte cleueþ to mannes cloþes..þerof is double kynde..Plinius seiþ þat þis name 'lappa' is þe name of many maner herbes.
- a1400 Alphita (SeldArch B.35)20 : Barba elexis, bardana, lappa inuersa, lappa maior, angl. clote.
- a1400 Alphita (SeldArch B.35)84 : Iancia, illafeos, lappa maior, lappa lappago, bardana, diaglitis idem; gallice gletonere, anglice clote.
- a1400 Mirfeld Sinonoma (Pmb-O 2)43 : Ungula caballina campestris, i. clote.
- ?c1425 *Chauliac(2) (Paris angl.25)187b/b : Lappacium, þe clote [*Ch.(1): dokke], is an herbe hauynge many spices, colde & drye, and þerfore it is clensynge.
- (1440) PParv.(Hrl 221)83 : Clote, herbe: Lappa bardana, lappa rotunda.
- ?a1450 Agnus Castus (Stockh 10.90)p.173 : Lappa is an herbe þat men clepe burrus or clote.
- ?a1450 Agnus Castus (Stockh 10.90)p.176 : Lappa anuersa is an herbe þat men clepe clote [vr. clyte]; þis herbe haȝt lewys lyk to the clote..and it beryȝt seed þat hangyȝt mennys clothys.
- c1450 Med.Bk.(2) (Add 33996)128 : Take þe roote of þe smale clote.
- ?c1450 Stockh.PRecipes (Stockh 10.90)108/10 : Take..half a pownd of þe more of þe clote.
- a1500 Sln.521 Recipes (Sln 521)137/15 : Take þe rote of smale clote.
b
- (c1395) Chaucer CT.CY.(Manly-Rickert)G.577 : A clote leef he hadde vnder his hood For swoot and for to kepe his heed from hete.
- c1465(?1373) *Lelamour Macer (Sln 5)3b : Burre leves or clotte leves.
- ?c1425 *Chauliac(2) (Paris angl.25)119b/a : Laye þeron a clote leef.
- c1450 Burg.Practica (Rwl D.251)207/2 : Take..clote levys and boyle hem in good ale.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
- c1450 Y wandryng (Lin-O Lat.129)29 : Kateryn with klytys and klotys and krabbys Hathe kawȝte out þe kayleweys and caste yn þe netlys.
Note: New form: Also..klot.
Note: Quot. belongs to sense 1.(a).
Note: Editor's note: "Klotys: although this can be burdock clote was applied to several similar plants. See..O.E.D. s.v. Clote 2); the k-spelling is listed neither by M.E.D. nor O.E.D."
Note: See OED definitions for clote n.: "1. The Burdock (Arctium lappa; also the prickly balls or burs which it bears. 2. Applied to other plants either from some resemblance to the preceding, or through some mistake: among these are Clivers ( Galium aparine), the Bur-weed ( Xanthium strumarium), the Coltsfoot and Butter-bur ( Tussilago farfara and Petasites); the Yellow Water Lily ( Nuphar lutea), (Water Clote), the latter still in s.w. of England."
Note: The etymologies of MED entries clete n. (variants clyte, klit) and clote n. may need reviewing. (?Both entries should be combined.) The OED has clite n. as a separate entry, saying it is a "parallel form to clete n. and clote n." (All quots. here are too late for MED.) This entry gives OE clāte n. as its etymon. For its entry clete, clett n., the OED gives the etymology as "same root as clote n."--all notes per MLL