best adj. (sup.)

  best 
TR2.407 Wĭth thís hĕ stýnte, ănd cáste ădówn thĕ héed,
TR2.408 Ănd shé bĕgán tŏ bréste ă-wépe ănóon,
TR2.409 Ănd séyde, “Ăllás, fŏr wó! Why̆ nére Ĭ déed?
TR2.410 Fŏr óf thĭs wórld thĕ féyth ĭs ál ăgóon.
TR2.411 Ăllás, whăt shóldĕn stráungĕ tó mĕ dóon,
TR2.412 Whăn hé thăt fór my̆ béstĕ frénd Ĭ wéndĕ
TR2.413 Rét mĕ tŏ lóve, ănd shólde ĭt mé dĕféndĕ?

Line Information

  • Differences among the manuscripts and editions:
  • English translation (Windeatt: 1998): With that he stopped speaking and hung his head, and she immediately burst our crying, and said: ‘Alas! I’m so unhappy! I wish I were dead, for good faith has completely disappeared from this world. Alas, what would strangers do to me, when he whom I took to be my best friend advises me to love and should be forbidding it to me?
  • Japanese translation (Sasamoto: 2012): こう言って彼女は話を止め、頭を垂れた。すると彼女はたちまちわっと泣き出して、言った。「ああ、悲しい、どうして死ねないのでしょうか。この世から誠実はすっかりなくなってしまいましたもの。見知らぬ人たちはわたしにどんなことをしてくださるの？ああ、わたしの最高の味方と思っておりましたお方が、恋をしろとお勧めになる、恋を禁じて当然のお方なのに。
  • Chinese translation (Fang: 1956): 说了这句话，他低着头不再作声，她却开始哭泣起来，说道，“伤心呀！我还要活着做什么？这世上已找不到贞操这个东西了！我以为是最知心的人，非但不警戒我，反来劝我爱男子，我不知道一个陌生人将劝我做什么呢？

Word Information

  • Etymology: OE
  • Addresser: Criseyde
  • Addressee: Pandarus
  • Adjectives with which juxtaposed: N/A
  • Counterpart in its source (Fil): N/A (but see 2.48)
  • Noun(s) (NPs) modified: human beings (friend (male: Pandarus))
  • 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

closest, best, finest, greatest

Comments from the Editor

Pandarus confesses that Troilus loves Criseyde and claims that if Criseyde refuses Troilus, he will kill them both (2.322–29). At these words, Criseyde cries, and the quotation above is part of her speech. In its Fil counterpart, Criseyde simply uses ‘tu’ (you) (2.48, 7), but Chaucer changed it to ‘my beste frend’, more clearly expressing the heroine’s desperation and helplessness.