18-12-2025, 12:25 AM
Just to stay with the basics for a moment.
I think there still are the two possibilities: (1) that pox literally means 'of a male goat' or (2) that it is part of a minced oath.
For the latter, the text you found gives a significantly earlier source for this usage, and quite close to the date of the Voynich MS, which is certainly interesting.
Given that this thread is about the usage as a minced oath, I will not delve into the alternative possibility. Just a minor point, which you probably already know...
The 'Festnachtspiele' , which also include examples of poxleber, predate Hans Sachs, and were written o.a. by You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., one or two decades before 1500.
I think there still are the two possibilities: (1) that pox literally means 'of a male goat' or (2) that it is part of a minced oath.
For the latter, the text you found gives a significantly earlier source for this usage, and quite close to the date of the Voynich MS, which is certainly interesting.
Given that this thread is about the usage as a minced oath, I will not delve into the alternative possibility. Just a minor point, which you probably already know...
The 'Festnachtspiele' , which also include examples of poxleber, predate Hans Sachs, and were written o.a. by You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., one or two decades before 1500.
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