Floris and Blancheflour help!

[davensal9]

Hi,

I'm a univeristy student sitting an exam about this text on Wednesday...I was just wondering if anyone could help me out as I am quite stuck!

I need to comment on the use of the word 'do' in this line:

"Himself he wolde haue doo to death"

and the use of 'was' in this:

"For she was come of good kyn"

I have a vague idea about 'was' but am stuck on 'doo'. Can anyone help?

Sally

[Clanad]

It's been ages since first reading this Romance, but, let's read the entire verse:
Himself he wolde have doo to deth,
And to hert he had it smeten,
Ne had his moder it underyeten.
Then the queene fel him uppon,
And the knyf fro him noom.

Floris (still a child, of course) is so distraught at finding, (upon his return) that his beloved Blanchelfour is apparently dead. The scene occurs at her supposed graveside. He wishes to kill himself but has only a childish knyf (Next verse: She reft him of his lytel knyf,
And savyd there the childes lyf.) which is taken from him by his mother.
The doo in question should be transliterated at "He would have struck(himself) to death"...
This is supported by reference to Erik Kooper in The Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages, University of Rochester...
Occam's Razor applies to the "was" you also reference... simply put it means 'she derived from good ancestors'...

[davensal9]

Thank you so much!! That's brilliant...thank you!

[dantheman123]

"Doo" meaning "done" as in "done to death" meaning killed.

[jno]

yes, I'm guessing that 'doo' was a past tense of 'do', perhaps pronounced differently; older 'strong' English verbs changed their vowel sounds rather than adding -ed for the past tense (as verbs like drive/drove still do).

'Was come' isn't a construction you hear in modern English, though its meaning is clear enough; but I guess if you translate 'come of' as 'descended from', then 'was' has the same meaning as it does now.