G'day to one and all, The OED has the following pertinent definitions, with the occasional mention of size: day's-work ------------- a. The work of a day, work done on or proper to a day. Also = DAYWORK 2 (obs.). 1594 SHAKES. Rich. III, II. i. 1 Now haue I done a good daies work. 1610 W. FOLKINGHAM Art of Survey II. vii. 59 Foure square Pearches make a Daiesworke, 10 Daie-workes a Roode. 1640 G. H. Witt's Recreations Hija, Your dayes work's done, each morning as you rise. c1836 GEN. P. THOMPSON Exerc. (1842) IV. 395 Paying him for more day's works. c1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 10 The logboard, the contents of which are termed 'the log',the working it off, 'the day's work'. daywork, day-work ------------------------- 2. The amount of land that could be worked (ploughed, mown, etc.) in a day. Obs. [c1270 Merton Coll. Rec. No. 1257 (Essex) Sex Day~wercatas terrae meae.] 1318-19 MS. in Sotheby's Sale Catal. 7 Apr. (1892) 22, Grant from Richard de Twysdenne..of a Garden of 13 Dayworks of Land in Gudhurst. 1492 Will of Reede (Somerset Ho.), xj day werkes of land. 1534 Inv. Sir L. Bagot in Lichfield Merc. (1889) 23 Aug. 8/1, xxviij day-warke of pea..xij daye-warke of barley..xxiiij daye-warke of whet. 1641 BEST Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 38 The South Wandell close, with its bottomes, is 8 dayworkes, or will serve one mower 8 dayes. day math, day's math ---------------------------- A day's mowing; the extent of meadow-land mown by a man in one day; cf. DAY-WORK 2. 1669 Will of R. Mayor in Lichfield Merc. (1889) 23 Aug. 8/1 Alsoe all that parcell of meadow grounds, contayninge one acre or dayes math of ground for her naturall life. And after her deceyse, the above three acres or daye's workes of arrable land, and one day-math of meadow ground to my daughter, Ursula Mayor. 1804 DUNCUMB Herefordsh. I. Gloss. (App.), Day's math, is..about a statute acre; in other words, it is that quantity of grass usually mown by one man in one day, for the purpose of making hay. 1864 SIR F. PALGRAVE Norm. & Eng. IV. 61. Cheer, Liz in Melbourne

Thanks for that, Elizabeth. I couldn't find the OED 'day math' entry when I looked for it before first replying to Barbara, I'm not sure why. If I'd found it it would have saved me a recantation of an ill-conceived opinion (as would looking in Richardson's Local Historians' Encyclopedia, a publication I have in my office but seldom bother to consult - clearly another ill-considered view). I did find the 2nd OED entry for 'day work', though, and was intrigued to see that its definition of the term is wrong, or at least inadequate. In the first four examples (where it is used as a measure of arable or garden land) the word is almost certainly used in its precise meaning of one fortieth of an acre, which is much less than the amount of land which could be ploughed or mown in a day, whatever the conditions. I'll send the OED a correction when I've got a bit of time to assemble a properly evidenced argument. Matt -----Original Message----- From: old-english-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:old-english-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Agar Sent: 22 October 2008 21:27 To: old-english@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [OEL] two days mathe of meadow grounde G'day to one and all, The OED has the following pertinent definitions, with the occasional mention of size: day's-work ------------- a. The work of a day, work done on or proper to a day. Also = DAYWORK 2 (obs.). 1594 SHAKES. Rich. III, II. i. 1 Now haue I done a good daies work. 1610 W. FOLKINGHAM Art of Survey II. vii. 59 Foure square Pearches make a Daiesworke, 10 Daie-workes a Roode. 1640 G. H. Witt's Recreations Hija, Your dayes work's done, each morning as you rise. c1836 GEN. P. THOMPSON Exerc. (1842) IV. 395 Paying him for more day's works. c1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 10 The logboard, the contents of which are termed 'the log',the working it off, 'the day's work'. daywork, day-work ------------------------- 2. The amount of land that could be worked (ploughed, mown, etc.) in a day. Obs. [c1270 Merton Coll. Rec. No. 1257 (Essex) Sex Day~wercatas terrae meae.] 1318-19 MS. in Sotheby's Sale Catal. 7 Apr. (1892) 22, Grant from Richard de Twysdenne..of a Garden of 13 Dayworks of Land in Gudhurst. 1492 Will of Reede (Somerset Ho.), xj day werkes of land. 1534 Inv. Sir L. Bagot in Lichfield Merc. (1889) 23 Aug. 8/1, xxviij day-warke of pea..xij daye-warke of barley..xxiiij daye-warke of whet. 1641 BEST Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 38 The South Wandell close, with its bottomes, is 8 dayworkes, or will serve one mower 8 dayes. day math, day's math ---------------------------- A day's mowing; the extent of meadow-land mown by a man in one day; cf. DAY-WORK 2. 1669 Will of R. Mayor in Lichfield Merc. (1889) 23 Aug. 8/1 Alsoe all that parcell of meadow grounds, contayninge one acre or dayes math of ground for her naturall life. And after her deceyse, the above three acres or daye's workes of arrable land, and one day-math of meadow ground to my daughter, Ursula Mayor. 1804 DUNCUMB Herefordsh. I. Gloss. (App.), Day's math, is..about a statute acre; in other words, it is that quantity of grass usually mown by one man in one day, for the purpose of making hay. 1864 SIR F. PALGRAVE Norm. & Eng. IV. 61. Cheer, Liz in Melbourne ==================================== 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