Det förs just nu en intressant diskussion om stickade hosor på en europeisk living-history-lista. Det senaste tillskottet är en latinsk passage i en skrift där en av medlemmarna just har fått svar från en kunnig människa:
********
The following is an extract from the Port book for Sandwich (one of the Cinque Ports on the south coast of England). It's the best transcription I've done so far, and there are definitely a few possibilities for improvement
In Navis unde Willimes popley est Mayrster
It[em] henrco hari Ind[us] :...x dosen payrs caliugaum nodulate ....
Or "very" loosley ... In the ship of which William Popley is the Master
Item Henry Harris Native : .... 10 dozen pairs of hose knotted ...
I don't think the "n" is an "m" because the form of the letters is significantly different, an "m" having a loop at the start and long decending tail.
Now whether you'd like to interpret this as Knotted, Knitted or simply joined is an interesting question ....
BTW "Caligaum" would probably be best translated Classically as "boots" but is typically used to mean "hose" in English-Latin texts of the C15th
***********
Svar:
Your request is a very
interesting one and i forwarded your message to
Prof. Udo Kühne in Kiel, Germany. He is one of the rare specialists
in medieval Latin. I know him from my time at the University and
he got back to me very quickly. I'll attach his message for those
who understand German and try to translate what he has to
say to English:
"Of course, the passage from the port book is not easy to consider
for me, even more so as we have to expect irregularities of the
orthography. In a classic context "caliga" mostly is 'boot',
later 'hose', stocking', which matches the 'tight hose' you [->
Christian] suggested. In the "Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British
Sources" you find (Fasc. I, 1975, S. 244) see caliga (at paragraph d)
evidence for 'knitted stocking', but all from the 16th century. Once
it talks of "caligae nexatae'. The usual adjective to "nodus" would
be "nodosus"; i can not find "nodulatus" as such, but you can think
of "with small nots".
(I thought about assuming in the source a form of 'modulatus',
'measured', but 'modulatus' is principally used in the musical
terminology.) From the Netherlands, there is an evidence for 'nodosus'
in the sense of 'rude, raw', referring on clothes (around 1450):
lumbos suos cilicio asperrimo et nodoso precinxit (Lexicon latinitatis
Nederland. medii aevi, C 362).
Given my impression the "knitted hose" in your source is fairly well
possible. It largely depends on the exact comparison with the
evidence in the said dictionary. Your friend should be able
to put a hand on this dictionary, if not, i could help with a
copy of the said page."
There is nothing i could add.
*********
Några idéer?
/Henrik