lǽce-finger
- noun [ masculine ]
-
Þuma pollex, scytelfinger index, middelfinger medius, lǽcefinger medicus, eárefinger
auricularius,
- Wrt. Voc. 71, 30-34.
-
At p. 44,7-8 the names are different :-- Goldfinger medicus vel annularis, lǽcefinger
auricularis,
- Ælfc. Gl. 73; Som. 71, 22.
-
Sing on ðíne lǽce-finger paternoster,
- Lchdm. i. 394, 2. [In later times it was the fourth finger e.g. Halliwell in his Dictionary quotes from a MS. of the 15th cent.
like a fyngir has a name, als men thaire fyngers calle,
The lest fyngir hat litye man, for hit is lest of alle;
The next fynger hat leche man, for qwen a leche dos oȝt,
With that fynger he tastes all thyng howe that hit is wroȝt.
In Prompt. Parv. P. 291 note the reason for the name is given differently. 'The fourth finger was called the leech finger, from the pulsation therein found, and supposed to be in more direct communication with the heart, as in the tract attributed to Joh. de Garlandiâ ... it is said 'Stat medics [medylle fyngure
Dictionarius,
- Wrt. Voc. p. 121, 35 'medicus dicitur digitus eo quod illo medici imponunt medicinam.' Cf. Icel. læknis-fingr.
Bosworth, Joseph. “lǽce-finger.” In An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online, edited by Thomas Northcote Toller, Christ Sean, and Ondřej Tichy. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, 2014. https://bosworthtoller.com/20918.
Checked: 0