TR2.694 Ănd, Lórd! Sŏ shé găn ín hĭre thóught ărgúĕ
TR2.695 Ĭn thís mătére ŏf whích Ĭ háve yŏw tóld,
TR2.696 Ănd whát tŏ dóone bĕst wére, ănd whát ĕschúĕ,
TR2.697 Thăt plítĕd shé fŭl ófte ĭn mány̆ fóld.
TR2.698 Nŏw wás hĭre hértĕ wárm, nŏw wás ĭt cóld;
TR2.699 Ănd whát shĕ thóughtĕ sómwhăt shál Ĭ wrítĕ,
TR2.700 Ăs tó my̆n áuctŏur lístĕth fór t’ĕndítĕ.

Line Information

• Differences among the manuscripts and editions:
• English translation (Windeatt: 1998) (Windeatt: 1998): And Lord! How she debated in her thoughts over this matter, of which I have told you; what it would be best to do, and what to avoid — that she often turned over in many ways. Now her heart was warm, now it was cold; and I shall write something of what she thought, as my author was pleased to set it down.
• Japanese translation (Sasamoto: 2012) (Sasamoto: 2012): おお、彼女は、貴方がたに語ったこの愛の問題について、心の中で自問自答し、何をするのが最良か、何を避けるのが最善か、何度も何度もあれこれ考えた。彼女の心は熱くなったり、冷たくなったりした。原作者が気の赴くままに書き記しているに従って、彼女の考えていてことを少しばかり書いてみよう。
• Chinese translation (Fang: 1956) (Fang: 1956): 她心中翻腾，时冷时热，忽展忽合，想着何事应推进，何事应避免。她这些思念，我将依照原书所述记录下来。

Word Information

• Etymology: OE
• Addresser: Narrator
• Addressee: N/A
• Adjectives with which juxtaposed: warm
• Counterpart in its source (Fil): N/A
• Noun(s) (NPs) modified: seat of the emotions (Criseyde’s heart)
• Attributive/ Predicative: predicative

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

(of love) cooled off

Comments from the Editor

After hearing about Troilus from her uncle, Criseyde ponders over the dilemma of desiring to accept his love and the risk of ruining her reputation. As suggested by Zhou (2018: 131–2), Chaucer skilfully uses the adjective pair ‘warm’ and ‘cold’ in the quotation above to modify hesitation and uses another pair, ‘hoot’ and ‘cold’, approximately 100 lines later (see 2.811). These two pairs indicate the slight psychological change of Criseyde, though she is still hesitating, her heart has been changed from ‘warm’ to ‘hot’.