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byss

.
Searchable Lemmata: bisse (AF), byssus (L), bis (ME), bis (Ir), byss (MdE), byssus (MdE).
Alternate Forms: bis, bijce, bissus, bissum, byss, bisso, bussi, bisses.

    Definitions and Defining Citations:

1a(n.) Textile; fine fibre or the cloth made from that fibre, usually white linen, originally associated with a kind of flax used by the ancients (particularly in medieval Latin ecclesiastical texts). Bis, bisse, byssus is frequently described as being worn by nobility alongside purple.(circa 600 - circa 1400 ?)
1. Byssina candida confecta ex quodam genere lini grossioris. Sunt qui et genus quoddam lini byssum [esse] existimant. [DOE ISID. Etym. (19,22,15)]
2. Byssum genus est quoddam lini nimium candidi et mollissimi, quod Graeci papaten vocant. Fibrinum lana est animalium, quos fibros vocant. Ipsos et castores existimant, quos dum venatores secuntur, ipsi sibi testiculos adimunt. Aranea vocatur eo quod aeris infusione in frondibus nutriatur. [DOE ISID. Etym. (19,27,4)]
3. Byssum : twin [DOE ClGl 1 (Stryker) (0657 (679))]
4. Bisso retorto : hwite twine geðrawen. [DOE ClGl 1 (Stryker) (0710 (733))]
5. Homo quidam erat diues et induebatur purpura et bysso et epulabatur cotidie splendide monn sum wæs welig & wæs gegearuad mið fellereade & mið linnenom & gehriordade dæghuæm fegerlice ł licsendo. [DOE LkGl (Li) (0747 (16.19))]
6. tabernaculum vero fiet decem cortinas de bysso retorta et hyacintho ac purpura coccoque bis tincto variatas opere plumario faciesThe construction of the tabernacle, according to the law of Moses. [DOE Biblia Sacra (Fischer, et al.) (Ex 26,1)]
7. copchaille .i. bréit bis dar cend Gloss. [eDIL Thes. (ii 339.34) ante 900]
8. [242] ... capucium: chapun ... manubiatam: maunché, manché, mancé ... [242.64] ... in mantica: en la trusse, en truse, in la truce ... [243] ... bisso: cheysil, de purpir, de bis ... cortina: la curtine, une quilte Gloss. [AND GlossNequam (242-243) circa 1200]
9. estque superposita byssus vice syndonis alba Other. [DMLBS GARL. (Myst. Eccl. 578) 1245]
10. Camisia sindonis vel serici vel bissi vel saltem lini materiam sortiatur. [AND TLL (1,182,17-18)]
11. camicia : chemise / cindo : sendel / sericum : seye / bissi : chesil / lini : lin / lino -nis : enoindre Gloss. [AND TLL (ii 118) ante 1300]
12. confluentibus ... ccc juvenibus ... distribuebantur purpura, byssus, sindones et siclades Historic. the date corresponds to the events described in the chronicle entry for that year. [DMLBS Flor. Hist. (III 131) 1306]
13. [55ra] ... une tente ... de purpre et de cocte bisteinte (Vulgate: coccoque bistincto) et bisse retorte ... [54rb] ... dys cortines ... de oevere cosee ... [55vb] ... Il avera deux haretz (ME hemmes) jointes en l’une et l’altre costiere des haltesces qu’il veignent en un (Latin: Duas oras iunctas habebit in utroque latere summitatum, ut in unum redeant) ... Et il prendrount or et jacinte et purpre et cocte bistincte (ME twiz litted) ... [56va] ... tu estreinderas la cote de bis et une mitre bissine ... Biblical/Hagiographic. [AND Bible2 (55ra/b-55vb-56va) circa 1300/1325]
14. De una penula de bisse [AND Gras (209) circa 1200/1500]
15. A riche man ... was cloþid in purpur and bise, þat ben prescious cloþes boþe rede and white. Ecclesiastic/Regula. [MED Wycl.Serm. ((Bod 788) 1.1) ante 1425]
16. Bilix: an haubrek on [read: or] cloþ wt two [Add 33534: duble] þredes [Hrl 2270: þredes to] weuen ... Birratus: shorted or grete cloþed ... Birsa: ox leþer or harde leþer barked ... Bissus: whyte flax ... Lexicon. [MED *Medulla ((Stnh A.1.10) 10a/a) ante 1425]
17. Her medr tok hann eitt fingergull af hendi ser ok dro upp an hǫnd Joseph. ok lét klæda hann medr bisso. ok eitt gullmen let hann um hans hals. Biblical/Hagiographic. Old Norse citation for comparative purposes; this text was written outside the British Isles. [LexP Stjórn (203.33-34) 1300/1400]
18. Hayl, arluth bold,/ del os sauns per!/ Clothys of gold / ha velvet ker / eu the aray, / damask, boytkyn / inweth cendal, / bys ha satynn,/ ye, porpor pal/ ha pannow gay. Arthurian, Biblical/Hagiographic, Poetic. [LexP BewnKe (Thomas & Williams) (1720-1729) 1450/1500]
19. paillium imda do purpuir et bis Vision. [eDIL Aisl. Tund. (114 xx §1) 1510/1519]
c.f.: linen, white flax
AF, Co, Ir, L, ME, Nors.
Ceremonial: No
Body Parts:
1b(n.) Textile; silk, satin or or some other kind of fine fabric [there may be some overlap with fabrics in sense 1a].(circa 1300 - post 1600)
1. Byssum siricum retortum.cf. citation 4 under sense 1a above. [DOE CorpGl 2 (Hessels) (1078 (2.113))]
2. sylke, byssus album ... ; versus: 'quadruplicis generis sunt serica dicta Latinis: / est album bissus' Gloss. [DMLBS CathA (sylke)]
3. Y-comen we ben into þis cuntre; Fowe & griis anou3 lade we ... Gode cloþes of sikelatoun & Alisaundrinis, Peloure of Matre ... & biis Heroic, Poetic, Romance. [MED Guy(1) ((Auch) 2836) circa 1330]
4. [16.19] ... Sum man was rich and was clothid in purpur and biys ether whit silk ... [19.20] ... Lord, lo! thi besaunt, which I hadde, kept in a sudarie, ether sweting cloth ... Biblical/Hagiographic. [MED WBible(1) ((Dc 369(2)) Luke 16.19-19.20) circa 1384]
5. unum jack de nigro bysso Accounts. [DMLBS Invent. Ch. Ch. (122) 1416]
c.f.: silk
AF, L, ME, MdE.
Sex: N/A    Use: n/a    Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: N/A.

    Etymological Evidence:

Definite, ultimately from Biblical Hebrew būts בוץ 'white fibre or fabric made thereof', borrowed as Greek βύσσος and Lat. byssus, with the sense 'flax, linen', particularly of fine white garments; thence into the vernaculars with the same sense, later used more generally for cottons and even silk in different colours.
WF: Borrowed into the British Isles
Etym Cog:
References:
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