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Line 124 - Commentary Note (CN) More Information

Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman
For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.
124 Of this post hast and Romadge in the land.1.1.107
1657 Poole
Poole (The English Parnassus, rpt. 1972)
124 hast] Poole (1657) has these rhymes: bast, blast, cast, shast, fast, a-gast, hast, last, mast, past, tast, wast. See Cercignani, below.
1710 Gildon
Gildon
124 Romadge] Gildon (1710, Glossary, p. lxxi): “Disturbances, &c.”
1725 pope1
Sewell = Gildon
124 Romadge] Sewell (1725, Glossary, p. lvi)
1728 pope2
Sewell = Gildon
124 Romadge] Sewell (1728, Glossary, 10: 55b)
1755 Johnson Dict.
Johnson
124 Romadge] Johnson (1755): “Romage, n.f. [rumage, Fr.] A tumult; a bustle; and active and tumultuous search for anything. [quotes only Ham.].”
1773 v1773
v1773: Johnson
124 Romadge] Johnson (ed. 1773) defines it as “tumultuous hurry.”
1778 v1778
v1778 = v1773
124 Romadge]
1784 ays1
ays1 = v1773
124 Romadge]
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778
124 Romadge]
1787 ann
ann = v1785
124 Romadge]
1790 mal
mal = v1785
124 Romadge]
1793 v1793
v1793 = mal
124 Romadge]
1793- mSteevens
mSteevens
124 Romadge] Steevens (1793-): “I am not, however, certain that the word romage has been properly explained. The following passage in Hackluyt’s Voyages 1599 Vol. II. Ppp 3 seems indicative of a different meaning. ‘—the ships growne foule, unroomaged, & scarcely able to beare any saile &’ Again, Vol III.88 ‘—the mariners were romaging their shippes &.’
Romage, on shipboard, must have signified a scrupulous examination into the state of the vessel & its stores. Respecting bond-service, the same term implied a strict inquiry into the kingdom, that means of defence might be supplied where they were wanted.”
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793; ≈ mSteevens
124 Romadge] Steevens (ed. 1803): “Commonly written—rummage. I am not, however, certain that the word romage has been properly explained. The following passage in Hackluyt’s Voyages, 1599, vol. II, Ppp, seems indicative of a different meaning: ‘—the ships growne foule, unroomaged, and scarcely able to beare any saile’ &c. Again, Vol. III.88: ‘—the mariners were romaging their shippes’ &c.
Romage, on shipboard, must have signified a scrupulous examination into the state of the vessel and its stores. Respecting land-service, the same term implied a strict inquiry into the kingdom, that means of defence might be supplied where they were wanted.’”
v1803: Harris
124 Romadge] Harris (apud ed. 1803): “Rummage, is properly explained by Johnson himself in his Dictionary, as it is at present daily used, —to search for any thing.”
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1813
124 Romadge]
1819 cald1
cald1
124 Romadge] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Romelynge, prevy mustrynge. Ruminatio, Militatio Musitatio. Promptuar. parvulor. clericor. 4to. 1514. This rendering of the word applies closely to the military use or bearing of it in the text; but to rummage trunks or papers is in every day’s use, for making a thorough ransack or search. Philips says, ‘It is originally a sea term, and properly signifies to remove goods out of a ship’s hold, when there must be searching and tumbling about.’ Todd’s Dict.”
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813
124 Romadge]
1826 sing1
sing1: standard
124 Romadge] Singer (ed. 1826): “Rommage, now spelt rummage, and in common use as a verb, though not as a substantive, for making a thorough ransack or search, a busy and tumultuous movement.”
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1 [except magenta for immaterial italics ]
124 Romadge] Caldecott (ed. 1832): “Romelynge, prevy mustrynge. Ruminatio, Militatio Musitatio. Promptuar. parvulor. clericor. 4to. 1514. This rendering of the word applies closely to the military use or bearing of it in the text; but to rummage trunks or papers is in every day’s use, for making a thorough ransack or search. Philips says, ‘It is originally a sea term, and properly signifies to remove goods out of a ship’s hold, when there must be searching and tumbling about.’ Todd’s Dict.”
I am not going to copy all these cald2 notes that are the same except for immaterial hihglighting. CALD2 regularly italicizes where we would now.
1833 valpy
valpy: standard, Steevens’ wording
124 Romadge] Valpy (ed. 1833): “signifies inquiry into the means of defence.”
1839 knt1
knt1
124 Romadge] Knight (ed. [1839]): “The stowing of a ship is the roomage; and the stower is the romager. Thus, the hurried search attending lading and unlading gave us rummage or romage, in the sense of tumbling over and tossing about things in confusion.”
Ed. note: He seems to be right about the nautical basis; see OED below.
1854 del2
del2 ≈ Steevens re sea and land?
124 Romadge] Delius (ed. 1854): “Die alte Schreibung romage hat die Verwechslung mit dem Schiffsausdruck roomage = Wegstauen der Schiffsgüter veranlasst. Rummage bezeichnet, dass Nichts im Lande auf seiner Stelle blieb.” [The old form romage has merged with the shipping term roomage, which means stowing of ships’ goods. Rummage means land also.]
1856 hud1
hud1 sing1
124 Romadge] Hudson (ed. 1856): “Romage, now spelt rummage, is used for ransacking, or making a thorough search.”
hud1 adds VN re + lines. Not in hud2, hud3
1856 sing2
sing2 = sing1
124 Romadge]
1857- mstau
mstau: Knight; Drayton
124 Romadge] Staunton (ms. notes in Knight, ed. 1857): “What possible connexion has Mr. Knight’s note with the sense of the passage> In the quaint notes to Drayton’s Poly-albion Song V. occurs the following which may throw some light on the word romage or ramage ‘Henry II here passing into Ireland cast oif a goss-hawk at one of them; but the goss-hawk taken at the sourcwe by the flacon soon fell down at the king’s foot, which performance in this ramage made him [word?] afterward send hither for eyasses! Does romage or ramage, mean an expedition?”
1859 stau
stau standard
124 Romadge] Staunton (ed. 1860): “Commotion, turmoil.
1862 cham
cham: rann without attribution; john without attribution
124 Romadge] Carruthers & Chambers (ed. 1862): “no doubt, the same as the modern rummage—bustle, or tumultuous search.”
1865 hal
hal = cald2 minus ref. to Todd
124 Romadge]
1868 c&mc
c&mccald without attribution; cham without attribution; stau without attribution
124 Romadge] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868): “Now spelt ‘rummage;’ ‘ransacking,’ ‘thorough search,’ ‘commotion.’”
1870 rug1
rug1: standard + in magenta underlined
124 Romadge] Moberly (ed. 1870): “Literally, ‘stowage,’ hence search in the hold of a vessel, or disturbance in general.”
1872 Wedgwood
Wedgwood ≈ c&mc without attribution
124 Romadge] Wedgwood (1872): “Rummage. Two words seem confounded. 1. Rummage, the proper stowing of merchandise in a ship; rummager, the person appointed to look to that duty; . . . .
2. But in addition to the foregoing the word is sometimes used in the sense of a racket, disturbance [quotes this passage in Ham.]. In this sense it may be a parallel form with rumpus. . . .”
1872 cln1
cln1: Steevens on naval connection without attribution; Nares
124 post hast and Romadge] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “A nautical term for the thorough clearing out of a ship’s cargo. It was probably derived, as Nares says, from ‘room,’ ‘roomage.’ Possibly Shakespeare had also ‘roam’ in his mind, when he added the word to ‘post-haste.’ [?] See our note on ‘the rooky wood,’ [Mac. 3.2.51 (1210)].”
1872 hud2
hud2 = hud1
124 Romadge]
1875 Schmidt
Schmidt: standard
124 Romadge] Schmidt (1875): “bustle, turmoil.”
1877 v1877
v1877: Wedgwood
124 Romadge] Wedgwood (apud Furness, ed. 1877): “(s.v. Rummage): Two words seem confounded. 1. Rummage, the proper stowing of merchandise in a ship; from Du. ruim, Fr. rum, the hold of a ship. Hence to rummage, to search among the things stowed in a given receptacle. 2. But in addition to the foregoing the word is sometimes used in the sense of a racket, disturbance [[as here in Hamlet]]. In this sense it may be a parallel form with rumpus.”
1877 v1877
v1877: cald (minus all but 1st sentence through musitatio)
124 Romadge] Furness (ed. 1877): “Caldecott connects it with ‘Romelynge, privy mysterynge. Ruminacio, mussitacio.’ —Prompt. Parv.”
1878 rlf1
rlf1: Schmidt; Wedgwood +
124 Romadge] Rolfe (ed. 1903): “S. uses the word only here. For its origin see [Webster’s Dict. 1864]. Wedgwood gives a less probable derivation.”
1881 hud3
hud3 = hud2
124 Romadge]
1883 macd
macd john +
124 Romadge] MacDonald (ed. 1883): “In Scotch, remish—the noise of confused and varied movements; a row; a rampage.—Association with French remuage?”
1890 irv2
irv2: standard
124 Romadge] Marshall (ed. 1890): “disturbance.”
1899 ard1
ard1≈ Skeat gloss (which is standard), nautical term
124 Romadge]
1903 rlf3
rlf3 = rlf1 minus all but 1st sentence above.
124 Romadge] Rolfe (ed. 1903): “S. uses the word only here.”
1905 rltr
rltr: standard
124 Romadge] Chambers (ed. 1905): “bustle.”
1909 subb
subb: rug without attribution
124 Romadge] Subbarau (ed. 1909): “[room-age—the stowage or close packing of things in a ship; hence search]; here it means ‘commotion,’ ‘bustle.’”
1912 dtn3
dtn3
124 post hast] Deighton (ed. 1912): “literally, the haste made by a post or runner.”
dtn3 = Skeat (Ety. Dict.} which is standard
124 Romadge]
1931 crg1
crg1: standard
124 Romadge]
1934
rid1
124 Romadge] Ridley (ed. 1934, Glossary): “hurly-burly”
1938 parc
parc
124 Romadge] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938) note the press variant, the 1st press variant in Q2, which they see as “due to an attempted correction to Romage as in F.”
1939 kit2
kit2: standard gloss + illustrative analogue
124 Romadge] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “intense general activity. Cf. Capt. Nathaniel Boteler, Dialogues, 1634 (ed. Perrin, 1929, pp. 229, 230): ‘Admiral. What doth your Rummage imply? Captain. It is to remove any goods or luggage, from one place or part to another, either betwixt the decks or elsewhere; but most commonly this term is appropriated to the removing or clearing of any goods or lading in the ship’s hold, that so they handsomely be stowed or ordered.’”
1947 cln2
cln2: standard gloss
124 Romadge] Rylands (ed. 1947): “rummage, bustle.”
1957 fol1
fol1 ≈ dtn
124 post hast] Wright & LaMar (ed. 1957, rpt. 1963): “a superscription urging speedy delivery of mail, indicating, as used here, frantic speed in the military preparation they are discussing.”
1957 pel1
pel1
124 Romadge] Farnham (ed. 1957): “intense activity.”
1970 pel2
pel2 = pel1: standard
124 Romadge] Farnham (ed. 1970): “intense activity”
1981 Cercignani
Cercignani
124 post-hast] Cercignani, p. 103, has haste/hast both with long LME w/o referring to Ham. Other discussions of the two words do not appear on the same pages.
1987 oxf4
oxf4fol1 without attribution
124 post-hast] Hibbard (ed. 1987) : “feverish activity.”
oxf4
124 Romadge] Hibbard (ed. 1987) says the word is not used elsewhere in Sh.
1992 fol2
fol2: standard
124 Romadge] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “bustle, commotion“
1993 dent
dent
124 Romadge] Andrews (ed. 1993), who sees relationships in like spellings here and there, says that romage in 124 anticipates Rome in 124+6 and that Empier “suggests wordplay on pier.
1997 OED
OED
124 Romadge] OED sb. 1. a. Naut. The arranging of casks, etc., in the hold of a vessel. Obs. 1526 in Househ. Ord. (1790) 195 Cellaridge, Cranage, Sponage, Romage, and Carridge of Wine, £100. 0s. 0d. 1688 HOLME Armoury III. xv. (Roxb.) 40/1 The Quarter Maister hath the charg of the hould for stowage, rommage, and trimming the ship.
2. Bustle, commotion, turmoil. Obs. exc. Sc. 1575 Durh. Deposit. (Surtees) 304 Ther was such a dyn and rom[a]ge in the streit emangest neighbours. 1602 SHAKS. Ham. I. i. 107 This (I take it) Is..the cheefe head Of this post-hast, and Romage in the Land. 1882 Jamieson’s Sc. Dict. IV. 77/1 Rummage, an obstreperous din.
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: standard
124 post hast] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “rapid activity, urgency”

ard3q2: standard; ref to Rome ≈ dent without attribution
124 Romadge] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “disturbance, commotion. This word, originally used in the context of arranging or rearranging a ship’s cargo, is now obsolete as a noun but still in use as a verb (to search or ransack) and as an adjective in ’rummage sale’ (a sale of junk or odds and ends). The spellings in Q2 and F (see t.n.) may suggest a link with the description of events in Rome that follows.”
124