Author James Solheim
“Sumer is Icumen in”:
What is That Buck Really Doing?
Accessory Materials Supporting the Paper by James Solheim in Notes and Queries, https://doi.org/10.1093/notesj/gjag080
1. Much of the paper’s argument is based on the connection between uerteþ in “Sumer is icumen in” and bert in “Elde.” But my essay begins by showing that the bucke is a goat and that goats have an especially peculiar and characteristic snort, as shown in the link below. See note in purple.
The video is of a goat snorting on another website and it may be preceded by a random YouTube ad.
2. The table below shows that the alliterative verb groups in “Elde” are so consistent within themselves that pomple can be inferred as the dialect meaning of “fumble.” Each group includes only verbs closely related to each other: for example, a group of mouth-related verbs includes only actions of the mouth. Pomple is paired with poke, a hand motion, meaning that pomple must be a hand-related verb too—“fumble” being the perfect match for an old person's shaky hands. Click the button below the table to access a downloadable copy.
