Linguistic question re: Canterbury Tales

[Alfred001]

I'm reading the Knight's Tale from Canterbury tales and there's this line (Middle English original and translation below):

866 He conquered al the regne of Femenye,
He conquered all the land of the Amazons,

I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about the etymology of this word Femenye.

I get nothing from the Online Etymology Dictionary and googling yields very little, mostly references to the text I'm reading and nothing in terms of etymology.

Does anyone know anything about this and why the translator chose to translate it as Amazons?

[Sido]

He conquered al the regne of Femenye,
(He conquered all the land of the Amazons)
That whilom was ycleped Scithia,
(That once was called Scithia)

Scithia = Cithe, Cithia, Scythia
Femenye = The land of women (http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198117650.001.0001/acref-9780198117650-e-693)

I don't know the exact etymology, but given that during Chaucer's time Latin was one of the dominant literary languages in England, I would guess that the word was derived from Latin. (Eg: Fem -women, e -of ) I'm sorry I can't be more helpful on that.

On the other matter, as you know, the Amazons were a tribe of all-female warriors. And according to Herodotus (Greek historian), the Amazons lived in a region bordering Scythia (Scithia) in Sarmatia. (Though there were other historians who differed in opinion).

In this, case it would seem that Chaucer agreed with Herodotus as where the land of the Amazons were. (The modern translator translates the verses as 'He conquered all the land of the Amazons, That once was called Scithia' instead of saying 'He conquered all of 'the land of women' that was once called Scythia')

Hope this helps :)

[Alfred001]

He conquered al the regne of Femenye,
(He conquered all the land of the Amazons)
That whilom was ycleped Scithia,
(That once was called Scithia)

Scithia = Cithe, Cithia, Scythia
Femenye = The land of women (http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198117650.001.0001/acref-9780198117650-e-693)

I don't know the exact etymology, but given that during Chaucer's time Latin was one of the dominant literary languages in England, I would guess that the word was derived from Latin. (Eg: Fem -women, e -of ) I'm sorry I can't be more helpful on that.

On the other matter, as you know, the Amazons were a tribe of all-female warriors. And according to Herodotus (Greek historian), the Amazons lived in a region bordering Scythia (Scithia) in Sarmatia. (Though there were other historians who differed in opinion).

In this, case it would seem that Chaucer agreed with Herodotus as where the land of the Amazons were. (The modern translator translates the verses as 'He conquered all the land of the Amazons, That once was called Scithia' instead of saying 'He conquered all of 'the land of women' that was once called Scythia')

Hope this helps :)

That's great, thank you very much!

I've managed to find a resource on this by googling:

http://books.google.hr/books?id=a04cmts1eicC&pg=PA217&lpg=PA217&dq=femenye+dictionary&source=bl&ots=UK0Vgb-slu&sig=YMNYJJhw94JCkUVHJQP4RwYbmDc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=XB7nU9KJHYne4QSw_4DQCg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=femenye%20dictionary&f=true

it says that one scholar believes that Chaucer invented this term (but he calls it a placename, which doesn't seem to make sense to me, because, as you wrote as well, it seems to be "kingdom of women") and it says that a Middle English dictionary mentions only three other recorded uses of the term.

What I'm wondering about, though, is the form of the word. Seems quite obvious that it must have come from Latin, as you pointed out, and I can figure the "femen" part, but I can't account for this -ye. As you said, it's fem + genitive ending, and then you tack on the -en plural ending of Middle English and you get femen, but where does this -ye business come from?

[Sido]

I'm not sure if this would be relevant, but 'ye' in Middle English was an abbreviation for the word 'the'.

Also here's a site that has a copy of the original manuscript of the tale, if you are interested :)
http://molcat1.bl.uk/treasures/caxton/record.asp

[Cleanthes]

The Nye or Gne sound was a not too uncommon ending for toponyms at the time, e.g. Land of Hispanye, Land of Cockaygne. So it would seem like Chaucer (or whoever came up with the word first) was creating a little pun with Femme (Middle French Feme) + toponymic ending nye = Land of Femenye.

[Alfred001]

The Nye or Gne sound was a not too uncommon ending for toponyms at the time, e.g. Land of Hispanye, Land of Cockaygne. So it would seem like Chaucer (or whoever came up with the word first) was creating a little pun with Femme (Middle French Feme) + toponymic ending nye = Land of Femenye.

Ahh, that's interesting. Thanks!