Chichevache

The Chichevache is a mythological European monster fabled to feed on good women.

In Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, this human-faced cow is perpetually starved to skin and bone due to the scarcity of obedient and faithful wives. The Bicorne or Bycorne, a counterpart to the Chichevache which fed on obedient and kind husbands, was reputedly fat and plump because of the plentiful supply of such men.

Chaucer may have borrowed the French term chichifache ("thin face") and put it with vache ("cow") to make the similar term chichevache ("thin or meagre cow").^[1] D. Laing Purves notes that "The origin of the fable was French; but Lydgate has a ballad on the subject. 'Chichevache' literally means 'niggardly' or 'greedy cow.'" ^[2]

Here is the paragraph where the word appears, in the "Clerk's Tale":

O noble wyves, full of heigh prudence,

Lat noon [no] humylitee youre tonge naille:

Ne [nor] lat no clerk have cause or diligence

To write of yow a storie of swich [such] mervaille,

As of Grisildis [Griselda], pacient and kynde,

Lest Chichivache yow swelwe [swallow] in hire entraille.

References

1. ^ Chichevache
2. ^
   • The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems at Project Gutenberg

External links

• http://www.bookrags.com/ebooks/2383/215.html

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.

This article relating to a European myth or legend is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v ·

This article about a legendary creature is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Medieval European legendary creatures European mythology European mythology stubs Legendary creature stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат? RAF Foulsham Lawson P. Ramage Look at other dictionaries: Chichevache — Chiche vache , n. [F. chiche lean + vache cow.] A fabulous cow of enormous size, whose food was patient wives, and which was therefore in very lean condition. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English Chichevache — noun A fabulous cow of enormous size, whose food was patient wives, and which was therefore in very lean condition. O noble wives, full of high prudence, / Let no humility your tongues nail: / Nor let no clerk have cause or diligence / To write… …   Wiktionary CHICHEVACHE —    a monster fabled to feed on good women, and starved, from the scarcity of them, to skin and bone, in contrast with another called Bicorn, that fed on good men, who are more plentiful, and was fat and plump …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia chichevache — In French myth, a giant cow that eats virtuous women …   Grandiloquent dictionary Chichevache — …   Useful english dictionary English words first attested in Chaucer — Contents 1 Etymology 2 List 2.1 Canterbury Tales General Prologue …   Wikipedia Bigorne et Chicheface — « Bigorne » redirige ici. Pour les autres significations, voir Bigorne (homonymie). Bigorne et Chicheface Bigorne et Chicheface sont des animaux fantastiques du folklore en Anjou et en Normandie. L …   Wikipédia en Français Bicorn (monster) — Bicorn (Also known as Bicrone) is a mythological creature related to the Unicorn with two horns that has the reputation of devouring kind hearted and devoted husbands, and is thus plump and well fed. His counterpart is the Chichevache, which… …   Wikipedia (a )prey to —    suffering from    The victimization is in most cases figurative, as with those who describe themselves as being a prey to dyspepsia, for example. Not so the obsolete British prey to the bicorn, a cuckold. The bicorn was a mythical twohorned… …   How not to say what you mean: A dictionary of euphemisms 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”