by Mark Twain
ai Archaic way to say “in fact” or “in truth.”
aj Mary, the mother of Jesus.
ak Hernán Cortés (1485-1547), Spanish conqueror of Mexico.
al Archaic way to say “truly.”
am Allusion to a thermometer (the “tube” referred to later in the paragraph).
an Bundle of sticks.
ao Dried plants with long stems strewn over the floor to absorb dirt.
ap Short for “chromolithograph,” a mass-produced color picture; an “insurance-chromo” advertises an insurance company. A “God-bless-our-home” was a mass-produced poster, with that saying, framed and mounted.
aq Raphael’s sixteenth-century drawings of the apostle Peter fishing, on which the tapestries The Miraculous Draught of Fishes were based. The tapestries hang in the Vatican; the drawings, once in Hampton Court Palace, are now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
ar Devices to summon household servants.
as In 1889 many American homes burned gas for illumination.
at Famous castaway of Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel.
au African-American vernacular form of “brother.”
av The Roman Empire occupied England until the early fifth century.
aw Originally a palace, later a prison, built after 1078.
ax In the Old Testament, Joseph was Jacob’s son; he became the Egyptian pharaoh’s minister after his brothers sold him into slavery.
ay Men outside the royal family who exercised power in the courts of English monarchs Henry III, Edward II, Edward III, and James I and Charles I.
az Probably a reference to mistresses of French kings, such as Madame de Pompadour, who was blamed for France’s defeat in the Seven Year’s War.
ba Referring to the many titled and common mistresses of Charles II.
bb Jackdaws, small European crows.
bc The forms of “blessedness” proclaimed by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.
bd In nineteenth-century American slang, men and women excessively concerned with clothes.
be Mistress.
bf Heraldic marking that indicates illegitimate birth.
bg From book 7, chapter 28 of Le Morte d’Arthur.
bh Pseudonym of Charles Farrar Browne (1834-1867), America’s most popular humorist before Twain.
bi In the meetinghouse—that is, in church—where visiting lecturers often performed.
bj Historian of Christianity who died early in the fourth century.
bk Military campaigns by various European powers to try to conquer Jerusalem (1095-1291).
bl Legendary talisman, usually considered to be the cup Jesus drank from at the Last Supper, that is the object of many quests.
bm Hypothesized water route that would allow ships to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific across the top of North America.
bn Hank’s favorite exclamation, and Twain’s way of reminding readers of Sir Walter Scott.
bo Figure derived from a form of gold-mining that uses jets of water to wash away dirt, leaving the gold.
bp Long, loose, heavy overcoat.
bq Farewell drink offered to a mounted rider about to depart.
br In the Old Testament (2 Kings 2:23-24), the children who mock Elisha are killed by bears after he curses them.
bs James Buchanan was president of the United States between 1857 and 1861.
bt Small bag.
bu Hell (from the Hebrew for “the abode of the dead”).
bv Strong carts for carrying heavy loads.
bw To denounce something vehemently.
bx A piece of hyperbole, derived from the fact that electric current can produce twitching in a dead body
by Exhausted.
bz The French Revolution (1789-1799) overthrew the aristocracy and established a republic.
ca The Reign of Terror (1793-1794), during which the most fanatical French revolutionaries guillotined about 20,000 people.
cb Church legally recognized as a nation’s official religion.
cc Leaders of English peasant rebellions in 1450 and 1381, respectively.
cd Swaggering or arrogant fellows.
ce If you know.
cf Archaic term for “soon afterward.”
cg Archaic term for “perhaps.” learn it. Where do they hang out. Even so! already it falleth trippingly from my tongue, and forasmuch as—”
ch This familiar term (no longer hyphenated) was only twelve years old when Twain used it.
ci Sandy’s tale, which continues through chapter 19, is from book 4 of Le Morte d’Arthur.
cj Telephone operator; before dial and touch-tone phones, operators placed all calls.
ck Archaic form of “since”; Twain’s borrowing from Malory resumes here.
cl Nineteenth-century boxing champions.
cm False teeth made from an early form of plastic.
cn The leading ladies.
co English laws passed during the Restoration that banned non-Anglicans from positions of governmental authority.
cp In the Old Testament, Joshua led the Israelites after Moses’ death.
cq Mount Washington (6,293 feet high) is in New Hampshire; the Matterhorn (14,780 feet) is in the Alps, between France and Switzerland.
cr The people chosen by God for salvation.
cs Someone who travels to sell or distribute something, usually Bibles.
ct Wounds.
cu Renaissance Italian goldsmith and sculptor whose autobiography describes his amorous adventures.
cv Popular song published in 1868 by Joseph Webster (music) and Sanford Bennett (lyrics).
cw Renaissance queens of France and England whom Twain associated with “lax court morals.”
cx Twain took this story about the court of Louis XIV from The Memoirs of the Duke of Saint-Simon.
cy Usually written ancien régime, the term describes France before the Revolution.
cz Disorderly or mischievous person.
da People who act mechanically, without thinking.
db The doctrine of papal infallibility was defined at the First Vatican Council in 1870.
dc Small, delicate needle.
dd Grandmother.
de Active volcano in Italy; its eruption destroyed ancient Pompeii in 79 AD.
df The feudal lord’s “right” to be the first to have sex with a bride.
dg A jail; named after the Parisian prison captured and destroyed by revolutionaries on July 14, 1789.
dh A real French prison, most famous from Alexandre Dumas’s novel The Count of Monte Cristo (1844).
di The story is borrowed, language and all, from the Morte d’ Arthur [author’s note].
dj Over-speculative stock brokerage.
dk Archaic form of “betraying,” in the sense of “revealing.”
dl Toothpaste.
dm Made by interweaving twigs and sticks.
dn Archaic term for “adorned” or “arrayed.”
do A tougher job than I thought.
dp Hank probably means con artists, flimflam men.
dq Episode in the tithe war between Welsh dissenters and the British government in the late 1880s.
dr Large tank of gas.
ds Medieval English poet whose Canterbury Tales involves a group of pilgrims.
dt Saddle that allowed a woman to ride with both legs on one side of the horse.
du Archaic way to say “is called” or “is named.”
dv Forms of money from, respectively, republican France and contemporary America.
dw This suggestion of sexual relations between nuns and monks was an old joke by the time Twain used it.
dx No matter what.
dy Perilous or dangerous.
dz Drunk.
ea The French Regency lasted from 1715 to 1723; King Louis XV was five years old when King Louis XIV died, so Philippe II, duke of Orleans, ruled in his place.
eb Group of firemen.
ec Archaic form of “nevertheless.”
&
nbsp; ed Ways to put advertising slogans on parts of the landscape.
ee British word for “fashionable.”
ef All the details concerning the hermits, in this chapter, are from Lecky—but greatly modified. This book not being a history but only a tale, the majority of the historian’s frank details were too strong for reproduction in it [author’s note].
eg Book by Alban Butler (1710-1773), cited by Lecky in History of European Morals as one of his sources.
eh Colloquial term for a traveling bag.
ei An incendiary compound.
ej Hank’s spells are exaggerations of the practice of forming compound nouns in German. They mean: “the Bagpipe Manufacturers Company of Constantinople,” “outrageous attempts by nihilists to dynamite the strongbox of a theatre,” “the lamentable tragedy of the marriage of a camel driver in the tropical transport service of the Transvaal army,” and “a manufacturer of marble monuments commemorating the Moorish mother of the assassins who perpetrated the general massacre of Mohammedans at Mecca.”
ek Phrase used in 1889 to get the telephone operator’s attention.
el The “medicine man” was important to many Indian tribes, but Twain is probably referring to the way the type appeared in a Wild West show.
em According to tradition, the King’s Evil (scrofula) was curable by a monarch’s touch.
en Twain read this story in Hippolyte Taine’s The Ancient Régime.
eo Originally, Puritans; later, anyone in England who does not belong to the Anglican Church.
ep The stereotype of New Englanders as acute but shady tradesmen dates from the eighteenth century.
eq Punished by fining.
er Rules governing what the various social classes were allowed to wear.
es Archaic word for “think” or “trust.”
et Right to enjoy the advantages of another person’s property.
eu Arthur is the son of Uther Pendragon, king of England.
ev Annual allowance to a member of the royal family.
ew In nineteenth-century theater, a grouping of characters into a picturesque scene.
ex In Twain’s America, a notorious source of pork-barrel legislation.
ey Diluting the value of securities.
ez France.
fa Small-time.
fb Archaic term for a bag carried by a traveler.
fc Clumsy, stupid person.
fd According to Twain, a Missouri term that is “a little stronger than ass, & not quite as strong as idiot.”
fe Tax on salt in France.
ff Tenths and hundredths of a cent.
fg Someone of high social position.
fh Overseer.
fi Sham or counterfeit; from an alloy of copper and zinc used to imitate gold.
fj Fir or pine wood.
fk Woven material or fabric, especially wool.
fl Inventors of (respectively) printing with movable type, steam engine, spinning machine, cotton gin, telegraph, steam locomotive, and telephone.
fm Farm laborer.
fn Plasterer.
fo A flier—that is, a risky or speculative venture.
fp Device that confines the head and hands to expose an offender to public derision.
fq Like the pillory (see above), except only the feet were confined.
fr Paying the whole bill or tab.
fs Awkward or unskilled.
ft Patron saint of England, martyred c.303 A.D.
fu Legendary Roman who defended a bridge over the Tiber against attacking Etruscans; subject of a famous poem by Macaulay in his Lays ofAncient Rome (1842).
fv Kidnapped and forced into the English navy.
fw Noise made by a telegraph sending a message.
fx Person using a free pass.
fy Partner, associate (Western American slang).
fz To the death.
ga Faucet.
gb Generic term for the behavior, conduct, and character of medieval knights.
gc The spirit of the murdered King of Denmark, Hamlet’s father, who appears in act 1 of Shakespeare’s play. The ghost is sometimes invisible; here, Merlin’s spell makes Sir Sagramour invisible.
gd Cavalry pistol.
ge Cowardly.
gf Traveled around selling.
gg Rows, rumpuses, fights.
gh Physician.
gi Any illness characterized by coughing, but here probably whooping cough.
gj The seat at the Round Table reserved for the purest knight, who will find the Holy Grail.
gk Investor who expects to make money by falling stock prices; the opposite of a bull. ‡To drive a hard bargain with the people who sold him stock expecting the price to go down. §Long-stemmed clay pipes.
gl Battleship.
gm Two weeks.
gn Steel produced by the process invented and patented by Sir Henry Bessemer in 1856.
go Armor-plated battleship.
gp Referring to the way heretics were denied the sacraments of Catholicism.
gq Formal Catholic punishment, in which a group is excluded from the sacraments.
gr That is, a sun lying on the earth instead of traveling across the sky.
gs Characterized by irresponsible business methods.
gt Low line drive.
gu From book 21, chapter 4 of Le Morte d’Arthur.
gv Machine that generates electricity.
gw Machine guns, invented by R. J. Gatling and manufactured in Hartford.
gx Placed a line of soldiers in front of a position as lookouts.
gy Cows (archaic).