Hi Liz You have probably been told by now that this is an ark which is a wooden box with an arched lid. There are various wooden boxes which you will find in inventories and ark is one of the most popular, particularly for keeping food. Sometimes the lid was shaped more like the roof of a house and sometimes with a more curved arch. Other boxes are described as coffers, chests and just plain boxes. You will doubtless find many different spellings for all of these but be prepared for any you see to read phonetically as one of this selection. Audrey ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron and Liz Waring" <edwaring@bigpond.com> To: <OLD-ENGLISH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2004 12:51 PM Subject: [OEL] a word in an inventory > Hi, Has anyone come across a word, which I have found in an inventory which appears to be spelled arcke? It appears about 3 times in this inventory and I can't find anything like it in the dictionary. It definitely isn't arche, as everywhere else the h is written in the old form of 1615. > Many thanks > Liz Waring > > > ==== OLD-ENGLISH Mailing List ==== > OLD-ENGLISH Web Page > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~oel/ > >