| 释义 |
† ˈeasterling Obs. exc. Hist.
[app. f. easter a. + -ling, prob. after Du. oosterling.
The word seems not to have been found as Eng. before 16th c. In Anglo-French and Anglo-Lat. sterling(us, esterling(us appear in the 13th c., but only in the sense of ‘sterling penny’ or ‘pennyweight’ (cf. libræ sterilensium, sterilensis monetæ in Ordericus Vitalis, a 1142); in Matt. Paris moneta esterlingorum seems to mean ‘the coinage of sterling pennies’, not ‘the coin of the easterlings’; nor do AF. phrases like ‘vint soutz desterlings’, ‘cinkaunte mars desterlings’ show that esterlings was understood to be the name of a people. The antiquaries of the 16th and 17th c., however, assumed that the ‘esterling’ was so called as having been coined by the Easterlings or Hanse merchants; hence they use easterling money as a transl. of moneta esterlingorum, etc. See sterling.]
A native of the east.
1. spec. A native of eastern Germany or the Baltic coasts; chiefly applied to the citizens of the Hanse towns.
1534Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I. 24 Alis Gray, and Wolfe, an Esterlinge. 1538Leland Itin. VI. 57 Many Esterlinges were buried there. 1598Hakluyt Voy. I. 6 Witland is apperteining to the Easterlings. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xvii. (1632) 878. 1668 Child Disc. Trade (ed. 4) 127 The Danes, Swedes, Holsteiners, and all Easterlings, who..import..Eastern Commodities. 1662Fuller Worthies i. xxiii. 67 The High-Dutch of the Hans Towns..(known by the name of Easterlings). 1771Goldsm. Hist. Eng. i. 251 The city of Wexford, and the two adjoining districts..were then in possession of the Easterlings.
b. attrib. easterling money: see etymology.
1605Camden Rem. (1657) 184 Money coined in the East parts of Germany..was called Easterling money. 1641Termes de la Ley 176 Guilhalda Teutonicorum is used for the fraternity of Easterling Merchants in London called the Stilyard. 1677A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 145 A Tax being laid upon these Easterling Clothes. 1871J. C. Adams in C. Davies Metr. Syst. iii. 112 The Rochelle and easterling pound was therefore the same.
c. A ship of Germany or the Baltic countries.
1563Mirr. Mag., Hastings xxi. 3 At hand whole fleet of easterlynges. 1633T. Stafford Pac. Hib. xi. (1821) 593 The ships that were descryed being a Fleet of Easterlings.
d. [transl. Anglo-L. esterlingus.] The weight of the easterling or sterling penny; a penny-weight, 1/20 of an ounce.
1605Camden Rem. (1637) 185 In a pound there ought to be eleven ounces, two Easterlings and one ferling, and the other allay.
2. gen. An inhabitant of an eastern country or district; also, a member of the Eastern Church. arch.
1561J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 279 b, In..1215 he [Pope Innocent III] helde a generall counsell in Laterane, wherin warre was declared agaynst the Easterlinges. 1565J. Calfhill Answ. Treat. Crosse (1846) 156 John, the legate of the Easterlings, brought forth another reason. 1577Eden & Willes Hist. Trav. 230 b, The farre South asterlynges doe know this parte of Europe by no other name then Portugall. 1609Holland Amm. Marcell. xxxi. xvi. 431 The..regiment of Easterlings [Orientalis turma i.e. Saracenorum] got the upper hand. 1649Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. iii. xv. 84 It was a custome of the Easterlings, and of the Roman Empire generally. 1688Bp. Parker Reasons Abrog. Test 107 Mahomet gives them that name of Zabii, because they lay Eastward from Arabia, for so the Word signifies Easterlings. 1816Southey Lett. (1856) III. 19 Of all the Easterlings, the Persians are the worst. 1855Kingsley Westw. Ho. (1861) 4 One west country man can fight two easterlings. 1870Morris Earthly Par. II. iii. 124 With Easterlings and his own country-folk they dealt.
3. See quot.
1802G. Montagu Ornith. Dict. (1833) 161 Easterling, a name for the Smew. |