THE MYSTERY OF MOULD 'TOP OF THE HEAD' IN MIDDLE ENGLISH REMEDYBOOKS

The primary anatomical meaning of the word mould in Middle English was 'top of the head'. According to historical dictionaries, mould could also mean 'fontanelle' and 'coronal suture'. None of the three senses fit the many recipe headings mentioning "a man's mould that is down" that are found in Middle English remedy books. The present paper argues that mould in fact means 'uvula' in such recipe headings, an application that may have begun as the result of a copyist not fully understanding the text that he was copying. OED and MED should add the sense 'uvula' to their entries for mould, illustrated by some of the examples that are cited in the paper.