Wp/enm/Wurm



Wurm is a terme þat betoknith serekin and miſliche beſtis and creatures, þe whych moun han som leggys, or noon. In Neue Englyſse meneþ hit chefli þe erthwurm. Thowheþere, þere too han been iknoun divers wyurms: men clepyden drakys svmwhile þerto, and is iknowen þat þe heigh Herodotus councidered þe Snayle and þe Leche as wurmys boþe; quoþ he þat þe snayel be dirti for þat it liveth in mudde, such lyk þe Yearfe Wyurm, but þe Greate Leche inhabiteþ, and eteþ offe Oceanus - that cleer blyu Occean. Bute ek fēdeth it offe the blōd of livende beeſtes, and so ys it emploied fur medicynable porpoiſes.

Þe hight Iſodore of Sevylle quoth:

"The Wyurm is bornne from fleyſh or wūde or any earthly þyng, but witowt interecorse. It sometimes beþ iborne frum ei, al so þe skorpione. Þere too ben Wyorms of the earþe (Scorpion, Betel, Manipede, Sneyl), of Æþir (Spyþir), vater (Leeche), of cloth (Moþþe), fleſhhe (divers kyndys), wūde (Turmiit), and leaues (Sylck wurm, Catyrpel). The leech (sanguiſaga) is a water worm; it fēdeth offe the blōd off livende schafte; Hwann it be fulle of blodde, yt þanne speueþ it owt, þat it may drynkken mo."

So speaketh wiſe Iſodoor of Sevyll; ak nou is iknouen þat no beſt nis engendryd noght of ooþir þan his owen kin, þe which soth biþ ebere þurugh obſervacioun of nature.