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A RENAISSANCE FAIRE GLOSSARY (v.1.1)
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Some of these terms are 16th century English; more of them have evolved as words used with a special meaning by Faire actors. Note that terms do vary quite a bit among different Faires.
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Actor, performer, participant = Someone who works for, or at, Faire (usually in costume) either as paid staff or as a volunteer
Anon = goodbye (literally means "later")
Bat Sweat/Dragon Piss = Lemonade mixed with salt. Used to replace minerals and protect against dehydration.
BFA = Basic Faire Accent
Bit or Gig = a bit of acting, a skit, or a starting point for improvisation in character
Boothie = Someone that works for/in a booth selling games or merchandise.
Carbon Condition = said as a way not to yell "Fire!" in public
Cross Keyes Inn = a mythical place "right down that path over there," useful when you really have to leave, send someone away, end a conversation, or get out of sticky situations ("Good sir, I will meet you later at the Cross Keyes Inn.")
E'en = evening
Faire Boogers = black mucus (often coated with fire retardant :)
Fairesite = place where Faire is being held
Fie! (pronounced "Fy!") = equivalent to "Darn it!"
Flanders = literally the Netherlands, figuratively means "somewhere far away where they have strange customs." ("Far Cathay" is even farther and stranger.)
Flemish painter = a camera
God's Blood, God's Teeth, etc. = fairly mild (by Elizabethan standards) swear words
Good Morrow (or "Good den") = Hello
Gramercy = thank you
Hawker = Someone that tries to bring customers into their booth.
Hog Tie = When a group of members of (usually) the opposite sex circle you and you must kiss each one to get out. -- Fairy Ring = Same as Hog Tie but the group surrounds a couple and they must kiss each other to get out.
In Very Sooth = really. Sometimes used as code for "I really mean this, I'm not just acting" (i.e. "In very sooth, I must away to the privies.")
I' Faith = really. Sometimes used as code for, "This *isn't* a real statement I'm about to make, I'm only acting." ("I'faith, I have ne'er been to school.")
Kissing John Barleycorn = Drunk
-- John Barleycorn = a figure symbolizing grain
-- "the blood of John Barleycorn" = Ale or beer
Mayhap = maybe
Pageant = a skit or short play, often performed in the street
Pet = paying customer who comes weekend after weekend, in a costume possibly better than yours, and soaks it all up...
A Pox on you = I hope you contract a horrible incurable disease and die
Privy = bathroom
Privy Monster = a creature that inhabits the privy and eats small children.
Recover = put your hat back on (after doffing it to the nobility)
Rennie = person who goes from Faire to Faire performing/working
Shire (or "our shire") = a mythical English locality where the Faire is set (It often has its own name, i.e. "Chipping-Under-Oakwood" for the RPF Faires in California. "Chipping" is derived from the same word as "cheap," and means "market.") -- Likewise, "Ah, the fair Shire of the South Bay, yes, I know that area."
Spaniard = sometimes used as a code word for an emergency of some kind.
Traveler = traditional (at Faire) term for paying visitor, in reference to their "odd" (i.e. 20th century) clothing and speech.
Turkey = sarcastic (or affectionate) nickname for Faire customer
-- Turkey With Dressing = same as above but in costume.
-- Customer, patron, visitor, guest = more polite terms for paying visitor to Faire
"The Beer Is In The Pickup Truck" = Faire is over for the day, it's time to revert to the 20th century (to be most effective, should be said with a broad Deep South accent)
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SHEENA'S PATENTED INSULT GENERATOR:
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Combine one word from each of the three columns below, prefaced
with "Thou":
Column 1 Column 2 Column 3
artless base-court apple-john
bawdy bat-fowling baggage
beslubbering beef-witted barnacle
bootless beetle-headed bladder
churlish boil-brained boar-pig‘
clouted clay-brained bum-bailey
craven common-kissing canker-blossom
currish crook-pated clack-dish
dankish dismal-dreaming clotpole
dissembling dizzy-eyed coxcomb
droning doghearted codpiece
errant dread-bolted death-token
fawning earth-vexing dewberry
fobbing elf-skinned flap-dragon
froward fat-kidneyed flax-wench
frothy fen-sucked flirt-gill
gleeking flap-mouthed foot-licker
goatish fly-bitten fustilarian
gorbellied folly-fallen giglet
impertinent fool-born gudgeon
infectious full-gorged haggard
jarring guts-griping harpy
loggerheaded half-faced hedge-pig
lumpish hasty-witted horn-beast
mammering hedge-born hugger-mugger
mangled hell-hated jolthead
mewling idle-headed lewdster
paunchy ill-breeding lout
pribbling ill-nurtured maggot-pie
puking knotty-pated malt-worm
puny milk-livered mammet
quailing motley-minded measle
rank onion-eyed minnow
reeky plume-plucked miscreant
roguish pottle-deep moldwarp
ruttish pox-marked mumble-news
saucy reeling-ripe nut-hook
spleeny rough-hewn pigeon-egg
spongy rude-growing pignut
surly rump-fed puttock
tottering shard-borne pumpion
unmuzzled sheep-biting ratsbane
vain spur-galled scut
venomed swag-bellied skainsmate
villainous tardy-gaited strumpet
warped tickle-brained varlet
wayward toad-spotted vassal
weedy urchin-snouted whey-face
yeasty weather-bitten wagtail
Contributed By Sandra Shepard © Sheena Shepard Gunn
Clan Chieftess, Clan Gunn
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WHAT'S MY LINE?
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Hans Sachs, writing in 1568, selected this list of "All the Trades on
the Earth". (If the columns of text are not clear, change them to a
non-proportionate font like Monaco)
Apothecary Fabric-shearer Oilmaker
Armorer (trims nap and Organist
Astronomer makes pleats) Painter (portraits
and
Bagger Falconer landscapes)
Baker Farmer Paperer
Balance-maker Fiddler (this is an Parchmenter
Barber unfair translation, Peddler
Basin-beater Geiger is applied to Pin-maker
Bather (owner of any player of bowed Piper
a bath) and stringed Potter
Beer-brewer instruments) Procurator (or
Bellfounder Fisher Proctor, this is a
Bellmaker (these are Fool for Money kind of legal
Agent
the little bells on Fool or
Representative)
sleighs and clothing, Furrier Redsmith (brass)
not the large civic Gemcutter Roper
bells cast by the Glasspainter Saddler
Bellfounder) Glazier Sculptor
Belter Gluttonous Fool Scythe-smith
Blockcutter (for block Goldbeater Ship's Captain
printing) Goldsmith Shoemaker
Bookbinder Grinder (knife Siever
Bookprinter sharpener) Singer
Bowyer Gunsmith Smith (blacksmith)
Bricker (brick baker, Gunstocker Spectacle-maker
not mason) Harper Spurrer
Bronze-founder Hatter Stonecutter
Brush-binder Hunter Tailor
Buffoon Illuminator Tanner
Butcher Jew Tapestry-maker
Carpenter Joiner Thimbler
Clockmaker Knifesmith Thonger (maker of
Combmaker Lantern-maker leather straps
Compass-smith Locksmith or laces)
Cook Lutemaker Typefounder
Cooper Lutenist Vintner
Coppersmith Mail-maker Wagoner
Dentist Merchant Weaver
Doctor Miller Wire-drawer
Drummer Miner Woodturner
Dyer Mintmaster (coin
Embroiderer stamper)
Engraver (for Mirrorer
printing, not to Nailer
decorate items) Needler
*The Book of Trades* by Jost Amman and Hans Sachs, with an introduction
by Benjamin A. Rifkin. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1973.
(reprint of *Eygentliche Beschreibung Aller Staende auff Erden...*,
Frankfurt am Main: 1568)
A truly incredible list of medieval occupations is available in Bertil
Thuresson. *Middle English Occupational Terms*.
Nendeln/Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint, 1968. (reprint of Lund: C.W.K.
Gleerup, 1950. from the Lund Studies in English).
Contributed By Sandra Shepard © Gwynyth
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