[SCA-Dance] Origin of the name "Ly Bens Distonys"?

Alexander Clark alexbclark at pennswoods.net
Fri Jan 15 14:55:30 EST 2010


On 1/15/10, White, John <white at drexel.edu> wrote:
>> From: Tim McDaniel
>>
>> I'm not asking about the dance "Ly Bens Distonys" itself (a Gresley
>> dance).  I dimly recall reading that there was a medieval romance
>> where the main character was a knight named something like "Le Bien
>> Distonys".  But Googling is getting me nowhere.  Does this tickle
>> anyone else's neurons?
>>
>> Danielis de Lincolia
>> --
>
> How about this?  From http://www.sfsu.edu/~medieval/Volume4/Zaerr.html,
> a reference to a fourteenth-century Middle English piece titled
> Lybeaus Desconus (linked to a thirteenth-century Old French piece
> called Le Bel Inconnu).  Haven't actually read the article, but that's
> an interestingly close name.
>
> I'm sure someone can come up with something better, though.
>
>      \\Dafydd Cyhoeddwr

In hands of this period, some "n"s are mistranscribed "u"s, and a few
"t"s are mistranscribed "c"s. I'd say the names are close enough that
they could be practically identical, especially if it was a name that
is likely to have been incomprehensible to a period transcriber.

-- 
Henry of Maldon/Alex Clark


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