[MR] More Old Words to Play With

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

Here are a couple of other words with old medieval uses for you to ponder.

Baxter is used as a surname, chiefly in England, but also in Scotland. It
comes from the Old English *bæcestre*, the feminine form of *bæcere*,
meaning a baker. In some uses "baxter" could be either masculine or
feminine.

In Scotland the term "baxter" took an interesting turn during the late
middle ages. "Luxury" bread, or wheat loaf bread, was baked in ovens by
male bakers. Bakers were members of guilds in the cities and chartered
towns, and were tightly self-regulated "boys-only clubs" except when a
woman inherited a deceased husband's business. But Scotland was sometimes
described as "The Land of Cakes"*, *which meant "hearth cakes" or "griddle
cakes", known to the Scots as *bannocks*. Hearth cakes were flat oak cakes
made on a griddle, and were usually unregulated. This became a niche for
female bakers, that is *baxters*, to bake and sell their products outside
of the guild system. The bannock was the daily bread for most poorer Scots,
and was also used as military rations.

Interestingly, today Baxter is a recognized Scottish clan with its own
tartan, though some Baxters in Scotland's west are considered part of Clan
Macmillan.

Our other word for today is "sinister." This term comes from the Latin
*sinister
*(duh!), meaning "left" and probably entered English through the Old French
*sinistre*. The term survives in heraldry as the left side of a heraldic
shield, with *dexter* describing the right side.

Today we often think that sinister means something is evil. This comes from
The Gospel of Matthew, 25: 32-33. This passage describes how those who find
favor will be on God's right side with Christ, and those destined for
eternal punishment will be placed on His left to be dealt with by Garbriel,
the punishing Angel. This association with evil goes way back into the
middle ages, and was likely responsible for prejudice against anyone born
left-handed (*sinistrals*). English military archers, for instance, are
said to have refused to allow left handed archers in their midst, believing
that the lefties would bring bad luck.

The Lowland Scottish Kerr family (pronounced like "car") were reputed to be
predominantly left-handed. This apparently is not true and it is doubtful
that more than the usual 11% of Kerrs were born left-handed. However
the Kerrs were said to train their swordsmen to fight left handed from
childhood, believing that it gave them an advantage against right-handed
opponents. Several Kerr castles have towers with newel stairs that wind
anti-clockwise, theoretically giving a left-handed swordsman defending from
above a broader swing against attackers.

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆
Continuing a crusade to keep the original Merry Rose relevant and in
business.