manciple

(redirected from manciples)

man·ci·ple

(măn′sə-pəl)

A steward or purchaser of provisions, as for a monastery or college.

[Middle English maunciple, from Old French manciple, bondsman, variant of mancipe, from Latin mancipium, servant, ownership by acquisition, from manceps, mancip-, contractor, dealer : manus, hand; see man- in Indo-European roots + capere, to take; see kap- in Indo-European roots.]

manciple

(ˈmænsɪpəl)

(Professions) a steward who buys provisions, esp in a college, Inn of Court, or monastery

[C13: via Old French from Latin mancipium purchase, from manceps purchaser, from manus hand + capere to take]

man•ci•ple

(ˈmæn sə pəl)

n.

a purveyor or steward, esp. of a monastery or college.

[1350–1400; < Middle French manciple « Medieval Latin mancipium, orig. ownership, derivative of manceps contractor, agent]

Translations

economo

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References in classic literature ?

heels were now armed, began to make the worthy Prior repent of his courtesy, and ejaculate, ``Nay, but fair sir, now I bethink me, my Malkin abideth not the spur Better it were that you tarry for the mare of our manciple down at the Grange, which may be had in little more than an hour, and cannot but be tractable, in respect that she draweth much of our winter fire-wood, and eateth no corn.

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For the exile motif as well as the popularity of Ovid's Tristia and Epistulae Ex Ponto in medieval England, see Anita Obermeier, "The Censorship Trope in Geoffrey Chaucer's Manciples Tale as Ovidian Metaphor in a Gowerian and Ricardian Context," in Stephen Partridge and Erik Kwakkel, eds.