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 dignified
bearing", 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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