The gold of hem

“The gold of hem hath now so badde alayes
With bras, that thogh the coyne be fair at eye,
It wolde rather breste atwo than plye.”

—Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, c. 1400.

What gold they have

“What gold they have is mixed with such allays
Of brass, that, though the coin looks right perhaps,
When you begin to bend the thing it snaps.”

—Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, translated by Neville Coghill, 1952.

hoor

“Though I be hoor, I fare as dooth a tree
That blosmeth er that fruyt ywoxen bee;
And blosmy tree nys neither drye ne deed.
I feele me nowhere hoor but on myn heed;”

—Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, c. 1400.

hoary

“I may seem hoary, but I’m like a tree
That blossoms white before the fruit can be;
Blossoming trees are neither dry nor dead
And I am only hoary on my head.”

—Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, translated by Neville Coghill, 1952.

Phebus

“Bright was the day, and blew the firmament;
Phebus hath of gold his stremes doun ysent,
To gladen every flour with his warmnesse.
He was that tyme in Geminis, as I gesse,”

—Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, c. 1400.

Phoebus

“Bright was the day and blue the firmament,
Down fell the golden flood that Phoebus sent
To gladden every flower with his beams;
He was in Gemini at the time, it seems,”

—Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, translated by Neville Coghill, 1952.

Cecilie the white

“And right so as thise philosophres write
That hevene is swift and round and eek brennynge,
Right so was faire Cecilie the white
Ful swift and bisy evere in good werkynge,
And round and hool in good perseverynge,
And brennynge evere in charite ful brighte.
Now have I yow declared what she highte.”

—Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, c. 1400.

Cecilia the White

“And just as these philosophers will write
To prove that heaven is swift and round and burning,
Just so was fair Cecilia the White,
As swift and ceaseless, turning and returning
To works of mercy, and round in her discerning
Of charity, and so I read her name.”

—Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, translated by Neville Coghill, 1952.

The Philosopher’s Stone

“Two mysterious processes—the rubefaction and albefaction of waters, i.e. reddening and whitening or clarifying a liquid . . . are referred to in medieval textbooks of alchemy. . . .

It was part of the theory that when the ingredients began to turn yellow they were on the verge of becoming the Philosopher’s Stone, by which all could be turned to gold. The Philosopher’s Stone was held to be heavy, sweet-smelling, constant and pink, and to exist in powder form as well. . . .”

—Neville Coghill, endnotes from his translation of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, 1952.

the color of constancy in love

“Blue for Chaucer’s age was the color of constancy in love and green of lightness in love. This is echoed in ‘Greenlseeves is my delight’ and elsewhere.”

—Neville Coghill, endnote from his translation of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, 1952.