That's not what I meant (R)

Whilst reading this, contemplate how someone in Saxon England would never have been described as being unable to read, for 'read' had a quite different meaning.

Rabbit, that long-eared lagomorph that isn't a hare, is a comparatively recent term for all rabbits. As recently as the eighteenth century it referred to the young only, the adults were known as 'coneys' (pronounced to rhyme with 'money').

Race was not always a reference to a contest of speed, for in the thirteenth century it simply described any forward movement.

Raid is a synonym for 'attack' and particularly a military action. In the fifteenth century it referred specifically to an attack by mounted cavalry.

Random has undergone a very big change in meaning, for while we use it today to mean 'arbitrary, haphazard', in the fourteenth century it described 'great speed'.

Rank in the modern sense of 'foul, offensive' had two different uses in the twelfth century, either meaning 'proud' or 'fully grown'.

Ransack is to search untidily today, but its original meaning in the thirteenth century was simply 'to seek', with no suggestion of anything criminal.

Rascal or 'rogue' first came to English in the fourteenth century as a mass noun describing 'a rabble, encampment'.

Read is something you're doing right this minute, but in the days of Saxon England it meant 'think' or 'guess'.

Recipe is a Latin word meaning 'take' which is how it was first used in English when giving instructions or directions. This was used not only in the kitchens of fourteenth century England, but also in what passed for operating theatres.

Reduce or 'diminish' today but, in fourteenth century England, the original Latin meaning of 'to lead back' was still used.

Refund or 'repay' today, but in the fourteenth century it specifically meant 'pour back'.

Regular or 'steadily to a plan' today, but originally was only used in a religious sense as the opposite of 'secular'.

Relent is a synonym for 'forgive' or 'more often 'less strict' in the modern dictionary, but in the fourteenth century it was used to mean 'melt' or 'dissolve'.

Repertory is today only used for a theatre company, they typically have one company producing different plays. Very different se in the sixteenth century, when the word could be used to mean 'index, list, storehouse'.

Reprieve is something a prisoner will hope to hear, for it delays or relaxes punishment. Sixteenth century prisoners would have dreaded hearing they were reprieved, as it then referred to them being sent back to prison.

Restive, as in 'fidgety, restless', is another with the original meaning being quite the opposite, for in the sixteenth century it described someone who couldn't bring themselves to move.

Reverie is probably best described today as 'a daydream, wistful', but when it first came to England in the fourteenth century, was used to describe wild delight, raucous celebrations - something rather different from the modern idea.

Ribald is to be coarse or lewd. In the sixteenth century it was a noun, a retainer of a minor nobleman who was a general dogsbody.

Romance, when it first came to English, referred to a tale of adventure told in verse form.

Rota, or 'list of duties', is from the Latin word rota meaning 'wheel' and was used as such from 1659 when the name of a London club. Not until the nineteenth century was 'rota' used to mean the same as 'roster'.

Really Rank Recipes

Virtually none of my writing involves anything later than the end of the nineteenth century, most very much earlier. Examining old maps and records may give glimpses into who was where and when but does not allow us to experience what it was really like to live and work in the towns of Victorian, Georgian, Tudor, Norman or even Saxon England. It struck it was tantamount to watching cookery programming on television, you can see it but neither smell nor taste it. Hence I have uncovered a few recipes used in the industries and processes of the past. You might not want to try these at home.

Common to just about every community since records were kept, the tannery was known for being odious in the extreme. Whenever possible it was situated at a good distance from the residential area. When the hides arrived they were already quite smelly, having been removed from the animal some flesh and fat would remain and that would quickly begin to rot. In order to clean up the hide and to help remove the hairs, the hide would be soaked in urine, concentrated and well-matured worked best. Then the leather would be softened, which required it to be pounded in a solution featuring animal dung (dog and pigeon was seen as particularly desirable). Tanners would tread this in bare feet for around two to three hours.

An alternative to dung was animal brains. Unfortunately not all animals have enough brains to rot their own hide, hence it was sometimes necessary to had something from the other end to help with the mixture.

Leather scraps would be turned into glue. Soaking the rotting scraps in water until it rotted down to produce the valuable adhesive. This took little in the way of man-power. Just let nature take its course, which it would after a few months.

Urine was also used to degrease and clean woollen cloth. Although there was an attempt made to ban this process in the Middle Ages, it was only successful for the larger scale production, those producing their own continued to use the free liquid.

Plasterers will tell you it is one of the hardest manual trades to learn as you have to work quickly to finish the job – in its simplest terms the whole task needs to dry as one, for this helps prevent cracking. When walls were made be interweaving flexible wooden poles through larger stakes, the gaps were sealed with wattle and daub. This was the plaster of its day, and effectively did the same job. Here a mixture of mud and animal dung was blended with straw, to give it some body, and smeared into the walls of the building. When dry it provided a draught-proof and fairly waterproof covering. Unlike the modern plasterer, who mixes and applies the plaster with tools, the wattle and daub was mixed with bare feet and applied with the hands.

But perhaps this was deliberate to cover up the smell of the cooking.