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The word. Aurum potabile literally means drinkable gold. Here the phrase supplies a joke about wealth consumed in drinking.
In Burton. Burton describes people who have shipwrecked their fortunes through wine and turned all their substance into aurum potabile. The surrounding losses of rank, property and security give the phrase its satirical force: what might have sustained a prosperous life has been swallowed away.
The places. The drinking of a fortune becomes the conversion of property into drinkable gold. (p. 120; DJR-045-05.)
In this edition. “aurum potabile” → “drinkable gold” (DJR-045-05). The literal English phrase preserves the play between gold as wealth and something made drinkable.
See also. Aqua vitae.
Baffle
The word. Baffle can mean to humiliate, disgrace or treat contemptuously. The attested spellings baffled and bafled describe treatment suffered at another person’s hands.
In Burton. Burton applies the word to his own disappointment with patrons, to the insults endured by poor dependants, and to a time-server who dominates in one place but submits elsewhere. The repeated contrast concerns power and humiliation. Bewilderment is not the central experience named by these examples.
The places. Burton recalls contemptuous treatment by patrons. (p. 136; DJR-048-10.) A poor dependant suffers humiliation from the powerful. (p. 159; DJR-053-27.) A changeable opportunist tyrannizes here and is humiliated there. (p. 36; DJR-010-29.)
In this edition. “baffled” → “treated me with contempt” (DJR-048-10); “bafled” → “humiliated” (DJR-053-27); “be baffled” → “being humiliated” (DJR-010-29). The modern equivalents make the social injury explicit while preserving the different grammatical settings.
See also. Explode.
Bawd
The word. A bawd is a procurer: someone who facilitates sexual encounters. The noun need not denote a woman, despite some familiar later associations.
In Burton. In Burton’s attack on a Jesuit, professions of poverty, fasting and chastity are set against accusations of wealth, gluttony and sexual misconduct. Bawd is paired with fornicator, distinguishing procurement from participation in the sexual act. Its force here is an accusation of hypocrisy within religious polemic.
The places. The term appears in an accusation against a professedly chaste religious figure. (p. 29; DJR-009-13.)
In this edition. “notorious Bawd” → “notorious procurer” (DJR-009-13). “Procurer” preserves the role named by the insult and its application to the male figure being attacked.
See also. Quean and slut.
Bewray
The word. Bewray here means to soil or befoul. Its sense is determined by the sustained language of excrement surrounding it.
In Burton. Burton attacks annotators who disfigure good authors with absurd commentary. His Latin abuse, the accompanying verb dawb, and the later images of dungheaps and dung-dwelling beetles make the meaning concrete. The word participates in a deliberately coarse satire on textual interference.
The places. Annotators are accused of fouling the books they comment on. (p. 71–72; DJR-018-10.)
In this edition. “bewray and dawb” → “soil and smear” (DJR-018-10). The English pair follows the local image. A sense such as reveal or betray would not convey the action described here.
Bile and boil
The word. The spelling bile needs particular care. In a Latin title, atra bile refers to black bile; in the English list of discharging sores, bile means a boil.
In Burton. Burton cites a work On Black Bile in discussing bodily disturbance. A few passages later, he lists a bile with an ulcer and an issue as a source of discharge whose closure is thought harmful. Much later black choler supplies a metaphorical bath or bait for evil spirits. These contexts distinguish a humour, a skin sore, and figurative use of the humour’s name.
The places. A Latin book title names black bile. (p. 78; DJR-036-06.) Bile is listed beside ulcer and issue as a discharging sore. (p. 80; DJR-036-19.) Black choler figures in the account of temptation. (p. 695; DJR-164-08.)
In this edition. “de atra bile” → “On Black Bile” (DJR-036-06); “bile” → “boil” (DJR-036-19); “Black choler” → “Black bile” (DJR-164-08). “Boil” restores the distinct English sense in the list of sores. “Black bile” renders the humoral term and black choler.
See also. Chirurgery.
Blood and sanguine
The word. Sanguine means related to blood as a humour. In sanguine melancholy, the adjective qualifies the humoral mixture rather than simply describing an optimistic mood.
In Burton. Burton reports an explanation of unusual intellectual ability through slightly scorched melancholy mixed with blood. He then cites a learned young patient described as sanguine melancholy. The connection with cheerful delirium and inspired activity belongs to the historical account of the mixture; the phrase is not a modern diagnostic label.
The places. Blood enters the proposed explanation of gifted sanguine melancholy. (p. 192; DJR-060-22.)
In this edition. “mixture of bloud” → “admixture of blood” (DJR-060-22); “sanguine melancholy” → “sanguine melancholy” (DJR-060-22). The technical adjective remains, with its humoral basis supplied by the surrounding account.
See also. Humour.
Bowels
The word. Bowels can figuratively mean one’s own children or intimate kin. The bodily term emphasizes their closeness to the person being addressed.
In Burton. Burton condemns people who will extinguish a neighbour’s house fire while ignoring the sexual distress of their own flesh and blood. Their own bowels belongs to this comparison of responsibilities. The following phrase flesh and blood confirms that the referent is family rather than an internal organ.
The places. The failure to recognize one’s children’s distress is compared with neglecting a fire. (p. 205; DJR-063-14.)
In this edition. “their own bowels” → “their own flesh and blood, their very children” (DJR-063-14). The expanded rendering makes the kinship sense explicit while preserving the force of the bodily metaphor.
See also. Affinity and consanguinity; Affection.
Brave
Source forms: brave; bravery; brave array
The word. Brave can mean splendid or finely dressed. Bravery can name finery, and brave array splendid clothing.
In Burton. Burton complains that a writer without wealth, rank or splendid appearance is dismissed despite his qualifications. His discussion of envy makes another person’s bravery an object of resentment, while a poem contrasts the flatterer’s brave array with the scholar’s rags. The selected uses all turn on outward display and its social value.
The places. Splendid appearance influences the judgment of authors. (p. 10; DJR-005-14.) Finery becomes an object of envy. (p. 101–102; DJR-041-10.) The flatterer’s rich clothing contrasts with the scholar’s rags. (p. 133; DJR-047-32.)
In this edition. “polite and brave” → “polished and splendid” (DJR-005-14); “bravery” → “finery” (DJR-041-10); “brave array” → “splendid clothes” (DJR-047-32). These equivalents keep courage from entering passages concerned with appearance and dress.
See also. Honest; Tires and weeds.
Bugbear
The word. A bugbear is a frightening imaginary being or apparition. It can be invoked to frighten someone or experienced as a feared presence.
In Burton. Burton criticizes adults who scare children with bugbears and hobgoblins, citing lasting effects attributed to such fear. In the symptoms of melancholy, bugbears appear among the visions that a sufferer is convinced he sees. The word connects an instrument of frightening tales with the terrifying content of imagination.
The places. Adults use bogeymen to frighten children. (p. 148 [sequence; printed 144]; DJR-050-41.) Terrifying apparitions occur among reported imagined sights. (p. 182; DJR-058-38.)