Anglo-Norman words

Part of the current revision process of the Anglo-Norman Dictionary ( www.anglo-norman.net ) is the provision of (live) links to other relevant dictionaries for every single entry. This places all Anglo-Norman words in their wider linguistic context, mapped against their equivalents in English ( Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and Middle English Dictionary (MED)), Continental French (Godefroy’s Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (Gdf) and its Complément (GdfC), Tobler and Lommatzsch’s Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch (TL), Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (DMF) and Trésor de la langue française (TLF) and Latin ( Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources (DMLBS)). In addition, AND entries are also linked with two etymological dictionaries of (medieval) French : F ranzösisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (FEW) and Dictionnaire étymologique de l’ancien français (DEAF). These in particular add an extra level of elucidation...

‘Sweete April showers, Doo spring Maie flowers’ [1] . From the late 16th century, Brits appear to have hoped that poor weather in the month of April would give way to sunnier days come May, though it’s likely that the sentiment was first expressed much earlier than that. [2] So synonymous is the month of April with rainy weather that one Anglo-Norman author it turned it into a verb, avriller , with the express meaning of ‘to rain, be showery’! Mon avril et ma violete, Moun pré de mai e ma florete [...] Et mes rosiers quant il avrille Ma flor qui pur giel ne s’esmaie   Ross   ANTS   1880 [ My April and my violets, My May meadow and my flower [...] And my rosebushes when it rains, My flower which does not fear a frost ] Image of a man holding flowers in April calendar BL Add 21114 fol. 2v There are no shortage of Anglo-Norman terms to talk about inclement weather, which is perhaps unsurprising in a language used in the British Isles!  The weather...