Medieval Cookery - Middle-English Word of the Day

Middle-English Word of the Day - May 26, 2008

Aventaile (n.) - The moveable front to a helmet, which covered the face, and through which the wearer respired the air, "qua ventus hauritur." The term is sometimes used for the whole front of the helmet.

For, as he drough a king by thaventaile,
Unaware of this, Achilles through the maile
And through the bodie gan him for to rive.

- Troilus and Creseide

Pronunciation: /AvEntaIl@/

Key
/A/ a in father
/v/ v in very
/E/ e in met
/n/ n in no
/t/ t in tie
/aI/ ai in aisle
/l/ l in lily
/@/ a in sofa

The Middle-English Word of the Day was selected from "A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs, and Ancient Customs, from the Fourteenth Century", by James Orchard Halliwell.

The approximate pronunciation is determined using Carol Hamill's Middle English Pronunciation Guide
and noted using upon the ASCII-IPA Standard
http://www.island.net/~hamill/medieval/mepronunc.html
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/IPA/

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