gret adj. & adv. & n.

  gret
TR5.1478 “Ŏf whích, ăs óldĕ bókĕs téllĕn ús,
TR5.1479 Thĕr rós ă cóntĕk ánd ă grét ĕnvýĕ;
TR5.1480 Ănd óf thĭs lórd dĕscéndĕd Tídĕús
TR5.1481 By̆ lígne, ŏr éllĭs óldĕ bóokĕs lýĕ.
TR5.1482 Bŭt hów thĭs Mélĕágrĕ gán tŏ dýĕ
TR5.1483 Thŏrúgh hĭs módĕr, wól Ĭ yów năught téllĕ,
TR5.1484 Fŏr ál tŏ lónge ĭt wérĕ fór tŏ dwéllĕ.”

Line Information

  • Differences among the manuscripts and editions:
  • English translations (Windeatt: 1998): And from this, as the old books tell us, there arose strife and great ill-will. And from this lord, Tydeus lineally descended, or else old books are lying. But how this Meleager came to die through his mother’s doing, I will not tell you, because it would take far too long.’
  • Japanese translations (Sasamoto: 2012): いにしえの書物が伝えているように、この一件から争いと大きな嫉妬が生じました。テューデウスはこの領主の直系です。そうでなければ、いにしえの書物は嘘になります。しかし、メレアグロスは母によって殺されることになったことは話さないでおきましょう、語るにはあまりにも長くなりすぎますから。」
  • Chinese translations (Fang: 1956): 可是从此就结下了冤仇,闯下大祸;根据古书所载,梅利求后传泰德斯。至于梅利求如何因母亲之故而丧失生命,这里不用多说,因为讲来话长。”

Word Information

  • Etymology: OE
  • Addresser: Cassandra
  • Addressee: Troilus
  • Adjectives with which juxtaposed: N/A
  • Counterpart in its source (Fil): N/A
  • Noun(s) (NPs) modified: jealousy or envy (envye)
  • Attributive/ Predicative: attributive

Information in Previous Studies

  • OED: Not quoted
  • MED: Not quoted
  • Commented in other previous works:
  • Windeatt (2003): N/A
  • Fisher (1989): N/A
  • Benson (1987): N/A
  • Davis et al. (1979): Not quoted
  • Donaldson (1975): N/A
  • Baugh (1963): N/A

Possible Definitions

considerable in degree

Comments from the Editor

Chaucer borrows from Filostrato (7.27) in which Meleager is Diomede’s grandfather. However, in Boccaccio’s De genealogia deorum (9.21), Meleager is Tydeus’s brother and therefore Diomede’s uncle. Meleager kills the boar and presents its head to the lady Atalanta, which leads to a quarrel and results in Meleager slaying his two uncles and being killed by his mother who burns the piece of wood upon which his life depends. See also my comment of ‘cruel’ (adj., Tr5.1468).