quick alive rest remain
quicksilver mercury resteth remains to be done
quiddity (i) the essence (of something), (ii) quibble retire strategic withdrawal from battle
quinque-angle five-pointed, star-shaped retorqued turned back on themselves (M)
quite (i) repay, acquit, (ii) requite reverberate beaten back
quittance quits rivelled twisted, plaited
road (i) roadstead, harbour, (ii) raid silly feeble, simple
silverling silver coin
room position, office sink cesspool
round slop baggy trousers sith since
roundly (i) with complete success, (ii) briskly slack neglect
snipper snapper whippersnapper
rout mob
royalize crown, make celebrated society community
rub polish soil marsh
ruin falling sollar loft, store-room
runagate renegade, runaway, vagabond sometime formerly
sophister specious reasoner
ruth suffering, pity sort pack
rutter knight, cavalry sound (v) (i) blow (of trumpet), (ii) resound, echo, (iii) measure (depth)
sack dry Spanish white wine
sakar, saker small cannon spials spies
salute greet splendant bright, resplendent
sarell seraglio, harem spoil plunder
sauce (v) season, flavour spurca (Latin) filthy, base
savour (n) smell spurn kick, disdain
scald contemptible squib firework
scamble compete fiercely for money stand upon understand
standing (n) position, (adj) stagnant
scathe harm
scholarism scholarship starting holes refuges for hunted animals
scour beat, punish
scutcheon escutcheon, heraldic shield state (i) government, (ii) pomp, ceremony, (iii) throne, (iv) condition
sectious factious, sectarian
seignory governorship stature statue
sennet trumpet call staying supporting
serge cheap woollen fabric steel (v) sharpen
servitor servant stern rudder
several separate still constantly, continuously
shag-rag ragged, rascally stilts crutches
shape (i) appearance, (ii) costume stomach (v) resent
shaver swindler, rogue stoop humiliate
shrewdly with conviction, zealously straggle wander, (of a soldier) desert
shrift confession straggler vagabond
signs zodiacal signs straight immediately
strait strict torpedo electric ray
stranger foreigner tottered tattered
strangle choke tourney tournament
style title toy trifle, jest
suffer allow, permit trace track, traverse
superficies surface, outer crust train retinue
superfluities that which floats on the surface trained enticed
trapped adorned
surcease cease, bring to an end trencher plate
surcharge overburden trick decorate, adorn
sure secure, safe tried purified
surprise capture troll flow
suspect suspicion trothless disloyal, faithless
Switzers Swiss mercenaries troublous disordered, disturbed
’swounds by God’s wounds trow believe, trust
symbolize mix trull whore
trustless untrustworthy, treacherous
table memorial tablet
tainted hit (technical term from tilting) tun barrel
turtle turtle-dove
talents talons twigger scoundrel, good breeder
tall brave, valiant
targeteers footsoldiers with small shields (targets) unacquainted unexampled
uncontrolled unrebuked, without restraint
tartar scum left after fermentation
tax censure uncouth strange, unpleasant
tempered refreshed, enlivened unfoiled (i) not set against a metal background, (ii) undefiled
term statuary bust on top of a pillar
unhappy miserable, unfortunate
terminine boundary unkind unnatural
theoria contemplation, survey (only instance in OED) unresisted irresistible
ure use
throughly thoroughly use (n) custom, (v) exhibit
tice entice
tickle chastise vail salute by lowering a sail
tilt fight on horseback vailing taking off, with a flourish
timeless (i) eternal, (ii) untimely valurous valuable (M)
tippet scarf, hence noose vaunt boast
tire (v) feed, eat ferociously vex torment
toil snare victuals food
topless exceedingly high, immeasurable villeiness bondwoman, slave
virtue power, force
wag naughty child withal with
wanton naughty, skittish wont, wonted accustomed
wants lacks wot know
watches units of time (usually three hours) wrack ruin, shipwreck
wreak exact vengeance
wedge ingot wreckful causing shipwreck
weeds clothes
weigh care for, value
welkin sky yoke (i) constrain, (ii) couple
welter toss about, overwhelm yoky joined by a yoke
whilom formerly youngling brat
whisk whisper, flutter
whist silent, hushed zenith highest point
will decree that zounds by God’s wounds
List of Mythological, Historical and Geographical Names
Abraham biblical patriarch, originally named Abram until God chose him as the progenitor of Israel and gave the land of Canaan to him and his descendants.
Acantha town in Asia Minor.
Acheron one of the rivers of the underworld.
Achilles legendary Greek warrior. His mother Thetis immersed him (all except the heel by which she held him) in the river Styx to render him invulnerable. After killing the Trojan hero Hector, in revenge for the death of his beloved Patroclus, he was slain by Paris, who exploited his only weakness by shooting an arrow through his heel.
Actaeon the hunter who was torn to pieces by his own hounds after being turned into a stag by Diana, the wood-goddess, when he espied her bathing naked in the forest.
Adonis legendarily beautiful youth, with whom Venus fell in love; he was killed by a boar while hunting but restored to life by Proserpina, with whom he lived in the underworld for half the year, spending the remaining months with Venus.
Aeacus grandfather of Achilles; a judge in the underworld.
Aegeus king of Athens and father of Theseus. He killed himself, thinking his son dead, when Theseus, returning from Crete, failed to signal his escape from the Minotaur. Marlowe confuses him with Diomedes of Thrace, who owned savage horses which he fed on human flesh; Hercules killed him and tamed the horses by feeding him to them.
Aeneas Trojan warrior and founder of Rome; the hero of Virgil’s Aeneid, he also features in Dido, Queen of Carthage.
Aeolus god of the winds.
Aesop legendary Greek author of a collection of fables.
Aetolia a region of Greece.
Agamemnon king of Argos in Greece; son of Atreus, hence also called Atrides. He was required to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to secure a favourable wind for the Greeks’ voyage to Troy; on his return he was murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover.
Agenor king of Phoenicia and ancestor of Dido.
Agrippa Henry Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486–1535), Renaissance magician and sceptical philosopher. He was reputed to have raised the spirits of the dead.
Ajax (i) Greek hero, son of Telamon, who fought at Troy. When he failed to be awarded the armour of the dead Achilles, he went mad and slew a flock of sheep, thinking them Greek warriors, and when he discovered his mistake killed himself, (ii) Another Greek warrior at Troy, son of Oileus. He attempted to rape Cassandra, for which Athene killed him in a shipwreck on his way home.
Albanus Pietro d’Abano (c. 1250–1316), Italian philosopher and physician who dabbled in the black arts.
Alcibiades late 5th-century BC Athenian general and statesman, who eventually had to seek refuge with the Persians; the beloved of Socrates.
Alcides see Hercules.
Aldebaran bright red star in the constellation of Taurus.
Aleppo city close to the border between Syria and Turkey.
Alexander (i) the Great of Macedon (356–323 BC), king and military commander who conquered the Persian empire in 331 BC; (ii) in Homer, the name of Paris, the son of the Trojan king Priam.
Amasia province in northern Asia Minor.
Amazons legendary female warriors.
Ancona Adriatic port with significant Jewish population until expelled by Pope Paul IV in 1556.
Antenor Trojan elder; in medieval tradition, he betrayed the city to the Greeks.
Antipodes the southern hemisphere; hence, its inhabitants.
Aonian Greek.
Apelles 4th-century BC painter, favoured with commissions by Alexander the Great.
Apollo son of Jupiter and Latona (Leto), god of the sun and of the arts; also known as Phoebus. His oracle was at Delphi in Greece.
Aquilon the north-east wind.
Araris probably the river Araxes which flowed through Armenia to the Caspian Sea; Herodotus suggested that the army of Xerxes drank it dry.
Archipelago the Aegean Islands.
Arethusa a nymph who was turned into a fountain by the goddess Artemis, having aroused the lust of the river-god Alpheus when she bathed in his stream.
Argier Algiers.
Argolian from Argos and its territory (the Argolid) in Greece.
Ariadan small town on the Red Sea, near Mecca.
Arion musician from Lesbos, who was rescued by a dolphin when pirates threw him into the sea.
Aristarchus an Alexandrian scholar of the 2nd century BC whose rigorous methodology made his name synonymous with severity.
Asant Zacynthus, island off the western coast of Greece.
Ascanius son of Aeneas, he appears in Dido, Queen of Carthage.
Asphaltis invented site of a battle, perhaps identified with Limnasphaltis.
Assyria middle-eastern empire.
Astraeus husband of Aurora and father of the stars.
Atlas a Titan sentenced by Jupiter to bear the vault of the sky on his shoulders as punishment for making war on the gods; sometimes identified with a mountain in North Africa.
Atrides see Agamemnon.
Aulis assembly-place of the Greek fleet which sailed to Troy.
Aurora goddess of the dawn and morning.
Auster the south wind.
Avernus lake near Naples, adjacent to the cave of the Cumaean Sibyl through which Aeneas descended to the underworld, and henceforth associated with the realms of the dead.
Sometimes a synonym for Hell.
Azamor Azimur, town on the Atlantic coast of Morocco.
Bacchus god of wine and ecstasy, also known as Dionysus.
Bacon Roger Bacon (c. 1212–92), the Franciscan philosopher at Oxford who reputedly practised magic.
Balaam a Canaanite who was preparing, against God’s instructions, to curse the insurgent children of Israel, when God made his ass speak to warn him of his danger, whereupon he blessed them and prophesied a great future for them (Numbers 22–3).
Balioll comic misnomer for Belial, a devil.
Balsera probably Passera, a town in Asia Minor.
Barbary the north coast of Africa.
Baucis Phrygian woman who, along with her husband Philemon, won the gratitude of Jupiter and Mercury for the hospitality of their poor house when the gods visited them in disguise.
Beelzebub ‘the lord of the flies’, high-ranking devil, second in command to Satan.
Belcher comic name of an otherwise unknown devil.
Belgasar town in Asia Minor.
Belgia the Netherlands.
Bellona Roman goddess of war.
Belus son of Neptune and the founder of Babylon.
Biledull district of northern Africa.
Bithynia province of north-west Asia Minor.
Blois French town, the site of a royal château.
Boötes northern constellation, identified as the driver of the Plough; also known as Arcturus the Bear.
Boreas the north wind.
Borno chief town of Nubia; the same name applies to the nearby Lake Chad.
Buda region of Hungary including modern Budapest.
Byather probably Biafra, west African province.
Byron town close to Babylon.
Caesar, Julius Roman general and politician (100–44 BC), whose dictatorship finally ended on the Ides (15th) of March when he was assassinated by a number of conspirators, amongst whom wereCassius and Brutus.
Cain first-born son of Adam and Eve; he murdered his brother, Abel, for which he was cursed by God.
Caire, Cairon Cairo in Egypt.
Calabria area in southern Italy.
Campania in the 16th century a district of Italy near Naples.
Canarea Canary Islands.
Candy Crete.
Capys paternal grandfather of Aeneas.
Carmonia Carmania, province on the borders of Syria and Asia Minor.
Carolus the Fifth Charles V of Spain, and Holy Roman Emperor (1519–56).
Caspia the Caspian Sea.
Cassandra daughter of Priam, inspired with prophecy but fated not to be believed.
Catiline Lucius Sergius Catilina (d. 62. BC), Roman politician, conspirator and enemy of Cicero, who composed diatribes against him.
Caucasus barren and harsh mountain range between the Black and Caspian Seas.
Cazates town near the source of the Nile. In Ortehus’s atlas the home of the Amazons.
Cephalus famed hunter, beloved of Aurora. He accidentally killed his wife Procris while hunting, and took part in the hunt for the Teumessian fox with his hound Lailaps.
Ceraunia dangerous promontory in north-west Greece.
Cerberus three-headed dog which guarded the entrance to the underworld.
Ceres goddess of corn and harvests, mother of Proserpina by Jupiter, and closely associated with Sicily where annual sacrifices to her were performed.
Cham title (khan) of the emperors of Tartary, fabled for their wealth.
Charon ferryman who transported the souls of the dead over the river Styx into the underworld.
Chio Chia, on the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor.
Cimmerians race believed to live in a sunless land at the edge of the world, and thus associated with the perpetual darkness of the underworld.
Circe enchantress who transformed her rival Scylla into a monster, and humans she seduced into animals. She tried to detain Odysseus on his journey home.
Clymene beloved of the sun-god Apollo and mother of Phaethon, who died attempting to drive his father’s chariot.
Cocytus river of the underworld.
Codemia town on the river Dniester.
Colchis country on the east of the Black Sea, home of the Golden Fleece.
Corinna the name Ovid gave to the woman who is the focus of his erotic poetry, much of which Marlowe translated.
Creusa daughter of the Trojan king, Priam, and his wife, Hecuba; wife to Aeneas and mother of Ascanius. She died during the escape from Troy following its siege by the Greeks.
Cubar Gubar, chief town of Biafra.
Cutheia town in Asia Minor (modern Kütahya).
Cyclopes (plural of Cyclops) one-eyed monsters who forged thunderbolts for Jupiter.
Cymbrian Teutonic.
Cymodoce a sea-nymph.
Cynthia Diana, the goddess of the moon, named after her birthplace, Mount Cynthus on Delos.
Cyrus 6th-century BC King of Persia, conqueror of Babylon, sometimes regarded by the Greeks as an ideal ruler.
C
ytherea Venus, named after Cythera, her favourite island.
Damon philosopher from Syracuse, famed for his friendship with Pythias; his offer to be executed in place of his friend so impressed the tyrant Dionysius that he pardoned both of them.
Danaë the daughter of Acrisius, the king of Argos, who was imprisoned in a bronze tower when an oracle predicted that her son would murder her father. While she was incarcerated, Jupiter visited her in a shower of gold and she later bore his son Perseus.
Dardania Troy.
Dardanus founder of Troy.
Darius Darius III, 4th-century BC Persian king, defeated in battle by Alexander the Great, who took from him a jewelled chest in which he allegedly kept the works of Homer.
Darote town of the Nile delta.
Deiphobus successor to Paris as lover of Helen.
Deucalion when Zeus flooded the earth, Deucalion and his wife, Pyrrha, were the only human survivors; they threw stones which metamorphosed into the men and women who were to re-people the world.
Diana goddess of the moon, chastity, woodland and hunting.
Dido daughter of a king of Tyre (whom Virgil names as Belus). Following the murder of her husband Sychaeus by her brother Pygmalion, she fled to Libya where she founded Carthage.
Dionysius Tyrant of Syracuse (405–367 BC).
Dis alternative name for Pluto.
Dolon Trojan spy captured by the Greeks.
Draco 7th-century BC Athenian legislator, whose ‘draconian’ laws were said to be written in blood and frequently involved the death penalty.
Ebena Night (from Latin, hebenus).
Edward Longshanks Edward I (1239–1307), King of England, nicknamed for his long legs.
Eleanor of Spain wife of Edward I.
Elysium that part of the underworld where heroes enjoyed a blissful afterlife.
Emden an important trading port on the German North Sea coastline.
Epeus builder of the Trojan Horse.
Erebus primeval darkness, often associated with the underworld.
Erycina Venus, named after her temple on Mount Eryx in Sicily.
Europa a Phoenician princess whom Jupiter seduced by assuming the shape of a beautiful bull.
Euxine the Black Sea.
Famastro in Ortelius’s atlas, a town on the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor.
Fates Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, daughters of Jupiter, who (respectively) spin, measure and cut the thread of life.
Fez town in North Africa.
Flora Roman goddess of flowers and fertility.
Furies Roman demons of the underworld, identified with the Greek Erinyes, spirits of vengeance.
The Complete Plays Page 67