What does 'ychon' mean?

AlexBell · 03-06-2018, 02:50 AM

I'm struggling to prepare Ann Radcliffe's last novel Gaston de Blondeville for the MR ebook library. It was published in 1860 or so, and she wrote it as though it was a book written soon after the reign of Henry III of England using the language of the time.

I'm using the original 1860 book as the source text, and find the sentence

'the most of the assemblage began to look ychon in other's face.'

I can't find a definition of the word ychon anywhere - apart perhaps as an Asian surname. Can anyone help?

I suspect that it is a publisher/printer/typesetter error, and am tempted to use 'the most of the assemblage began to look each one in the other's face.' Any comments?

rkomar · 03-06-2018, 03:29 AM

It looks like ychon is archaic English for "each one". If you google for "ychon archaic english", you'll find it appearing in old English verses.

crich70 · 03-06-2018, 04:14 AM

I think it might be an archaic way of saying anon. I found a page of a poem about Robin Hood.
he is trew to his maister
sed our kyng
i sey by swete seynt john
he lovys better robyn hode
than he does us ychon

In more modern english

He is true to his master
said our king
i say by sweet St. John
he loves better Robin Hood
than he does us anon.

Where I found it

HarryT · 03-06-2018, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crich70

I think it might be an archaic way of saying anon.

It most certainly does not mean "anon". That only appears in your example because it rhymes with "John"! It's a Middle English word which means "each one" or "every one". (I'm sure you can see the similarity between "ychon" and "each one" - they're the same phrase.)

See:

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/m/mec...egdisplay=open

AlexBell · 03-06-2018, 05:01 PM

Thanks to you all. I've found other words later in the text which are just as obscure, so I think I'll abandon this book.

BookCat · 03-08-2018, 06:51 AM

It might help if you get a version of The Canterbury Tales which has the original text on the left page and the translation on the right. I had to study such a text for two of the stories when I did A level lit. Seeing the translation against the original helps to develop knowledge of middle English.

AlexBell · 03-08-2018, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BookCat

It might help if you get a version of The Canterbury Tales which has the original text on the left page and the translation on the right. I had to study such a text for two of the stories when I did A level lit. Seeing the translation against the original helps to develop knowledge of middle English.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I think I'll try to get hold of 'The Universal Dictionary of the English Language' as mentioned in a response to a more recent post.

03-06-2018, 02:50 AM	#1
AlexBell Wizard Posts: 3,413 Karma: 13369310 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Launceston, Tasmania Device: Sony PRS T3, Kobo Glo, Kindle Touch, iPad, Samsung SB 2 tablet	What does 'ychon' mean? I'm struggling to prepare Ann Radcliffe's last novel Gaston de Blondeville for the MR ebook library. It was published in 1860 or so, and she wrote it as though it was a book written soon after the reign of Henry III of England using the language of the time. I'm using the original 1860 book as the source text, and find the sentence 'the most of the assemblage began to look ychon in other's face.' I can't find a definition of the word ychon anywhere - apart perhaps as an Asian surname. Can anyone help? I suspect that it is a publisher/printer/typesetter error, and am tempted to use 'the most of the assemblage began to look each one in the other's face.' Any comments?

03-06-2018, 03:29 AM	#2
rkomar Wizard Posts: 3,041 Karma: 18821071 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Sudbury, ON, Canada Device: PRS-505, PB 902, PRS-T1, PB 623, PB 840, PB 633	It looks like ychon is archaic English for "each one". If you google for "ychon archaic english", you'll find it appearing in old English verses.

03-06-2018, 04:14 AM	#3
crich70 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,310 Karma: 43993832 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Monroe Wisconsin Device: K3, Kindle Paperwhite, Calibre, and Mobipocket for Pc (netbook)	I think it might be an archaic way of saying anon. I found a page of a poem about Robin Hood. he is trew to his maister sed our kyng i sey by swete seynt john he lovys better robyn hode than he does us ychon In more modern english He is true to his master said our king i say by sweet St. John he loves better Robin Hood than he does us anon. Where I found it

03-06-2018, 05:01 PM	#5
AlexBell Wizard Posts: 3,413 Karma: 13369310 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Launceston, Tasmania Device: Sony PRS T3, Kobo Glo, Kindle Touch, iPad, Samsung SB 2 tablet	Thanks to you all. I've found other words later in the text which are just as obscure, so I think I'll abandon this book.

03-08-2018, 06:51 AM	#6
BookCat C L J Posts: 2,911 Karma: 21115458 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Birmingham UK Device: Sony e-reader 505, Kindle PW2, Kindle PW3, Kobo Libra2	It might help if you get a version of The Canterbury Tales which has the original text on the left page and the translation on the right. I had to study such a text for two of the stories when I did A level lit. Seeing the translation against the original helps to develop knowledge of middle English.

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