Searchable Lemmata: floccus (L), flocke (AF), flok (ME), ffloc (W), fflocyn (W), flokkis (OScots), flock (MdE).
Alternate Forms: fflocs, fflocys, floc, floccle, floccorum, flocken, flocus, floke, flokke, flokkes, flokkis, flokkys, flosculum.
1a(n.)
Raw Material;
tuft of wool. In some later uses, a tuft of cotton or similar material; lint (13th-c A-N Med, for example); also, scrap wool, trimmings; used figuratively (L floccus, as type of something valueless.(ante 1000 still in current use)
Sex: N/A Use: n/a Status: n/a Rank: n/a Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: N/A.
1b(n.)
Raw Material;
especially, wool (in tufts) used for stuffing, padding, caulking, etc.(circa 1250 still in current use)
1. carette: ... in ij coll[ariis] emend[andis] cum flocunis iij d. ... et in emend' ij bac' cum flocun' j d.
Accounts.
[DMLBS MinAc (991/16) 1268]
9. [5.501a] ... Ther goth no lesse in a mannes tipet Than of brood cloth a yerde. ... [5.501b] ... And that noo persone that shall make ... eny manere Wollen Cloth ... medell, or put in or uppon the same Cloth, nor into the Wolle wherof the seid Cloth shal be made, eny Lambes Wolle, Flokkes, Chalke ... or Cork ... That every of the seid Clothes ... folowe ... oon ordre of makyng ... withoute dyversite in webbyng, fullyng, knottyng, and burlyng.
Legal.
[MED RParl. (5.501a-b) 1463/1464]
11. [p. 227]
Off ffyne cordewan’, A goodly peyre of long pekyd schon
hosyn enclosyd • of þe most costyous cloth • of Crenseyn’
þus a bey to a jentylman • to make comparycion
With two dosyn poyntys of cheverelle • þe Aglottys of syluer feyn’.
A shert of feyn holond • but care not for þe payment
A stomachere of clere reynes • þe best may be bowth
Þow poverte be chef • lete pride þer be present
And ałł þo þat repreff pride, þou sette hem at nowth.
Cadace • wolle • or flokkys • where it may be sowth
To stuffe with-al þi dobbelet, and make þe of proporcyon
Two smale legges • And a gret body • þow it ryme nowth
ȝet loke þat þou desyre • to An þe newe faccion.
A gowne of thre ȝerdys loke þou make comparison'
Vn-to ałł degrees dayly •þat passe þin astat
A purse with-outyn mony • a daggere for devoscyon’
And þere repref is of synne • loke þu make debate
With syde lokkys I schrewe þin here • to þi coloere hangyng down’
to herebrowe qweke bestys þat tekele men onyth
[p. 228]
An hey smal bonet • for curyng of þe crowne
And ałł beggerys and pore pepyłł • haue hem on dyspyte
...
A beggerys dowtere to make gret purvyauns
To cownterfete a jentyl woman’ [...]
Here colere splayed • and furryd with Ermyn calabere or satan’
A seyn to selle lechory • to hem þat wyl bey
And þei þat wyl not by it, yet i-now xal þei han’
And telle hem it is for love • she may it not deney.
Biblical/Hagiographic, Drama, Poetic.
[MED Ludus C. ((Vsp D.8) 227-228) ante 1475]
Sex: N/A Use: n/a Status: n/a Rank: n/a Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: N/A.
2(n.)
Raw Material;
the cocoon of a silk-worm.(circa 1425 ?)
1. With a 3 cornered pece of a felte or with a saccle i. bag be þe water ytaken. ... R[ecipe] ... rawe silke propreli of þe flok or huske [L folliculo; *Ch.(2): flokke or slogh] of þe worme smal kutted
Medical.
[MED *Chauliac(1) ((NY 12) 180a/a-b) ante 1425]
Sex: N/A Use: n/a Status: n/a Rank: n/a Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: N/A.
Definite, Anglo-French/Old French Old French floc, from Classical L floccus. In W (initially including the borrowed plural -s) from c.1400 (where it is a borrowing either from AF or Middle English; there was also a Welsh diminutive fflocyn (cf. Latin floculus), though that is not clearly attested in the medieval period). The DOST headword 'flokkis' (flokis, flox) is a plural form.
WF: Borrowed into the British Isles
Etym Cog:
References:
