Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004

The Oxford English Dictionary (as other responders have probably told
you).  The various "shorter" and "concise" versions leave out a lot of
archaic words and historical information, so you might need the full
version, which is quite expensive.  Your local library might have it,
and if you live in certain communities or study or work at certain
colleges, you can get it on line (that's been discussed here).

...

Try looking that up under "scrip", though you may not find the kind of
precision you're looking for.  According to MWCD10 on line, it was
small.
...

A refreshing approach around here.

There are few good sources for *usages* in the 12th-15th centuries.  The
OED tries, but ...

"Beautiful" might not have been used at all.  MWCD11 dates it to the 15C,
your terminus ante quem, but OED1's first reference is from 1526, and
SOED1-3 all date it to 1526, but SOED4-5 to LME=1350-1469.  The adjectival
use from 1526-1586 seems "Excelling in grace of form, charm of colouring,
and other qualities which delight the eye, and call forth admiration."

"Handsome" occurs in OED1 references from 1435 on, but with meanings that
don't seem appropriate for the uses you have found:

1435  "Easy to manipulate, or to wield, deal with, or use in any way.
       /Obs/"
[SOED3 dates this as ME-1598, SOED5 as LME-L16]
1530  "Handy, ready at hand, convenient, suitable. /Obs./ or /Dial./"
1563  "Of action, speech, etc.: Appropriate, apt, dextrous, clever, happy;
       in reference to language, sometimes implying gracefulness of style.
       /? Obs./ exc. /U.S./
1547  "Of an agent: Apt, skilled, clever. /Obs./ esc. /U.S./, or as
       associated with other senses.
By 1590 we find it in the sense
      "Having a fine form or figure (usually in conjunction with full size
       or stateliness); 'beautiful with dignity' (J.), 'fine', The
       prevailing current sense." The 1590 reference is to Spencer.

And anachronistic for the period that you are concerned with.  You need to
determine the meaning that the person setting the English imagined, a
perhaps impossible task. It should be clear to you that you are *not*
dealing with words as they were used in the 12-15C, but something else
entirely.

OED1: "Schrippe, Schrole, obs. ff. Scrip /sb.3/, Scroll /sb./"
Here's COD10's entry for scrip:

  scrip2
  · n. historical a small bag or pouch, as carried by a pilgrim, shepherd,
       or beggar.
  – ORIGIN ME: prob. a shortening of OFr. escrepe ‘purse’.

OED1
1290-  "A mansion, habitation; a country residence; the principal home of
        an estate, 'capital messuage.'
1292-  "The mansion of a lord with the land belonging to it; hence, a
        landed estate. /Obs./"

Get access to an OED, or at least to an SOED.  For terms in disuse from
1700-, the SOED should be the 3rd edition (1944, rev. 1973) or earlier.
The NSOED (SOED4) and SOED5 aim for coverage of terms in use after 1700.