Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte      

1.       Eutychus – allusion to Acts 20; Eutychus fell asleep while St. Paul was preaching, fell from the loft where he was seated, and was presumed dead.

2.       Surtout – a kind of long, close fitting overcoat

3.       Chemises – plain, short-sleeved undergarments

4.       Tuckers – detachable collars tucked in at the neck opening of a dress

5.       If ye suffer . . . happy are ye – Brocklehurst is paraphrasing part of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:6) but is perverting its meaning

6.       Rubicon – any point at which turning back becomes impossible; the allusion is to the Rubicon River that Julius Caesar’s army crossed in 49 B. C., thereby beginning a civil war.

7.       Brahma . . . Juggernaut – the names of two Hindu gods

8.       Bethesda – a pool in Jerusalem believed to have healing properties; it is ironic that Brocklehurst compares Lowood to Bethesda since his school offers none of the hope of physical well being that Bethesda did.

9.       Phylactery – a small leather case containing slips inscribed with passages from the Scriptures, worn by Jewish men during prayer

10.       Barmecide supper – a pretended meal at which no food is actually served, so named after a prince in The Arabian Nights who served such a meal to a starving beggar

11.    Cuyp-like – as in the landscapes of the Dutch painter Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691)

12.    Pastille – a small lump of aromatic paste, burned to fumigate or disinfect a room

13.    Beck – a little rocky stream

14.    ‘ing’ and holm – low, flat land along a river

15.    effluvia – invisible outflowing particles

16.    Resurgam – Latin for “I shall rise again”

17.    Debarrassed – relieved

18.    Thirty pounds – The British pound was worth about 5 U.S. dollars at the time for the novel [thus, $150]

19.    En regle – French for “in order”

20.    Millcote . . . on the banks of the A____ - Millcote is a fictional name; Bronte probably had Leeds in mind, a city in northern England on the banks of the River Aire.

21.    Plucked – British slang – rejected after having failed an examination

22.    Madeira – Portuguese island in the Atlantic off the coast of Northern Africa, famous for a sherrylike wine that bears its name

23.    Negus – drink made of hot water, wine, lemon juice, honey, and spices

24.    Cuirass – an armored breastplate

25.    Rookery – a roost for rooks, a crowlike bird

26.    Tyrian-dyed – purple

27.    Parian – made of fine, white marble from Paros, Greece

28.    Cachination – loud, excessive laughing

29.    Par parenthese – French for “by means of parenthesis”

30.    Pretercanine – unlike what one would expect of a dog

Chapters 13-24

1.       Lustre – chandelier

2.       Nonnette – little nun

3.       Hector – to bully

4.       Hôtel – in France, the mansion of a rich person

5.       Dentelles – lace clothing

6.       Habergeon – a coat of armor

7.       A chicken in the pip – that is, a chicken suffering from pip, an infectious disease of fowl

8.       Beulah – a Hebrew name meaning “married”; the allusion is to Isaiah 62:4

9.       Chimeras – impossible or foolish fancies; in Greek mythology, the Chimera was a fire breathing monster.

10.       Abigails – ladies’ maids, so named after a character in The Scornful Lady (1610), a play by Beaumont and Fletcher

11.    Minois chiffonne – attractive, but in an unusual way

12.    Dian – Diana, Roman goddess of the moon and hunting

13.    Incubi – oppressive burdens [probably coming from demons by the same name]

14.    Tant pis – French for “so much the worse”

                                          

English IV