"And Esau said to Jacob, 'Let me eat some of that red pottage, for I am
famished!' (Therefore his name was called Edom.)" - Genesis 25:30 (RSV).
Sam Treynor
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ian Welch
Sent: Thursday, January 28, 2010 3:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] William Byrd adjectives from 1732
I think the Bible refers to Esau as 'an hairy man" which led to a certain
episode involving inheritance. The old guys were, in general, much more
familiar with biblical allusions than most of us, even the regular
churchgoers. I think Esau might have been an Edomite but that's without
checking sources.
Ian Welch, Canberra
----- Original Message -----
From: Sam Treynor <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, January 29, 2010 3:35
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] William Byrd adjectives from 1732
To: [log in to unmask]
> I think that the suggestion of "hairy" for "Family of Esau" and
> "swarthy"for "family of the Saracens" is probably on the right
> track. Another name
> for Esau was Edom, which means "red". Perhaps Mrs. Syme
> had red hair.
>
> Sam Treynor
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kathleen Much
> Sent: Thursday, January 28, 2010 12:02 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] William Byrd adjectives from 1732
>
> It's probable that Byrd meant "portly" in its old sense, "having
> dignifiedbearing", rather than the modern sense of "hefty".
>
> I can't say what he meant by the Esau and Saracen reference,
> unless Sarah's
> family was hairy (Esau was "an hairy man") and Mr Syme was
> swarthy. See if
> you can find portraits of them that might shed more light.
>
> Kathleen Much
> The Book Doctor
>
> On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 9:00 PM, VA-HIST automatic digest system
> Jon Kukla
> wrote:
>
> >
> > In his Progress to the Mines narrative, William Byrd II
> described am
> > Octobe=
> > r
> > 1732 visit to Studley plantation in Hanover County where me
> met the widow
> > Sarah Winston Syme, future wife of John Henry and future
> mother of Patrick
> > Henry. Byrd described her as =93a portly, handsome dame, of
> the family of
> > Esau, and [who] seemed not to pine too much for the death of
> her husband,
> > who was of the family of the Saracens.=94
> >
> > Mrs. Syme was not literally Jewish (i.e., "of the family of
> Esau") nor was
> > her late husband literally Moslem ("Saracen)." Haven't turned
> up anything
> > useful in the OED. Is anyone aware of any scholarship
> about whether these
> > descriptors were idiosyncratic on Byrd=92s part? or might they
> have had a
> > contemporary context?
> >
> >
>
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