jan 1, 1522 - pilch

Description:

This was an Old English word for a garment and it derived ultimately from Latin <i>pellis</i>, that is ‘skin’ or ‘hide’. In some early examples these were made of expensive fur. 1395 <i>pro j pilch de scrank et bys</i> (SS45/13); 1410 <i>De xviijs de una pylchia de gray. De xxiijs iiijd de una pylchia de bever</i>, York (SS45/45): in the accounts of Fountains Abbey in 1446-58 <i>j pelch</i> was valued at 18d (SS130/230). A monk who moved to Mount Grace in 1520 brought with him <i>a newe pylche of the gyft of Mr Saxby</i> and <i>an olde pylche</i> (YAJ18/295). In 1522 Robert Skyrley of Scarborough made the following bequest: <i>and to v men that goys in my bote, every oon of them a pilche</i> (SS79/154). These were presumably coarse garments suitable for hard work at sea, and the inference may be that they were made of cowhide or sheepskin. Veale’s definition was ‘a garment of skins, fur side outwards’ (EMV221). One possible earlier reference is a by-name: 1301 <i>De Thoma Pilcheprest vjd</i>, Skelton (YRS21/37).

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