Further thoughts: Line 5: Comparison makes it certain (to me at least) that the initial letters are both f, not s. "It' 2 fybbes one fate" [i.e.vat?]. But I haven't got the 30-vol OED to hand, nor the big 6-vol. Enlish Dialect Dictionary. Have a notion that a fibbe was a lidded bin, but that's only a guess. Line 6: Having eliminated steel (the plain or fluted rods with handle used for sharpening knives, in use from 1541), styling iron (device heated in the fire for making the hair into ringlets -nnot around then?), and steelyard (pronounced "stillyard", weighing device used from 1639), I'm now pretty certain this word is STILLING iron.(used from 1604, a stand or gantry for a cask).This goes with the beer barrels; the only problem is that it was usually called simply a stilling, and didn't I think need to be made of iron instead of wood. John ----- Original Message ----- From: <DEBBIEKENNETT@aol.com> To: <old-english-l@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, February 06, 2009 1:21 AM Subject: Re: [OEL] Unsolved - 1674 Inventory of Alice Cruse ofBrushford,Somerset - Pa... > Thanks Audrey and Austin for your further comments. Alice's inventory does > include three beer barrels so it is possible that these vats and pails > were > used for brewing. If the word is sybb not jybb then cheese-making is > another > possibility. I hadn't realised that the art of cheesemaking was so > ancient. > > Debbie > > > ==================================== > WEB PAGE: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~oel/ > ARCHIVES: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=OLD-ENGLISH > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > OLD-ENGLISH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > __________ NOD32 3829 (20090205) Information __________ > > This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. > http://www.eset.com > >