Balderdash for the Medieval Gay #83
June 21, 2009
(a compendium of queer words for the modern fag with a passion for the Middle Ages added hebdomadally on the Sabbath day)
83.) Leman
-noun singular
a.) A lover or sweetheart.
b.) An illicit lover or paramour.*
[Origin: From Middle English lemman or lefoman]
*It seems the fateful lot of members of the tribe to fall for various mortal humans with whom love is eventually doomed. This word appears in an early English song attributed to William Cornyshe (c.1468-1523) in the the follwing line:
…Ah, Robin, gentle Robin, tell me how thy leman doth, and thou shalt know of mine…
