Dictionaries are not only to look up descriptions of words: they can also give historical background and detail otherwise unknown. For instance, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED, http://www.oed.com/) is a descriptive dictionary of the English language and the historical development of the English language, providing a comprehensive resource to researchers, as well as describing usage in its many variations throughout the world. Unfortunately the OED is only accessible by membership (check your local library or College computer banks).
Listed below are a couple of alternatives, in the English language but also the Dutch & German, specifically used for medieval terms and their historic significance.
What would one need this for?
For instance, the honeyed ale or malted mead braggot, I would like to know more... not only what it is, what's its history?
Braget, Braggat, Bragot: A sort of beverage formerly esteemed in Wales and the West of England.
"By me that knows not neck-beer from a pheasant. Nor cannot relish braggat from ambrosia" B. and Fl., Little Thief, act 1.
To make Bragotte. Take to x galons of ale, iij potell of fyle worte, and iij quartis of hony, and put therto canell at iiij, peper schort or long, at iiij., galingale, at j., and clowys, at j., and gingiver at ij. MS. 14th century.
And suddenly one finds a very early recipe for Braggot in the English language!
Don't discount the German and Dutch dictionaries, the history of England is intertwined with Dutch and German culture, and often within recipes, especially with the invention of printing, it was the German (Allerley Matkel) and Dutch (t bouck va wondre) manuscripts which were plundered; translated and republished into the English language (the Alexis, a Profitable booke, etc.)!
And, as always, google.translate is your friend :)
Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English by Thomas Wright,
1886
Historische Woordenboeken op Internet:
Mittelniederdeutsches Wörterbuch by Schiller & Lubben, Bremen 1876 (several volumes looks like).
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