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couchour (1248)

The form quchur is a cross reference to the following entry:

couchour (1248)

cocheur,  cochour,  cochur;  coucher,  couchur;  cuchur;  quchur  
  FEW:  collocare 2/ii,905b Gdf: GdfC: TL: DEAF:  coucher (couchour)  DMF:  coucheur  TLF:  coucheur  OED:  coucher n.2  MED:  couchour n.  DMLBS:  couchator 509c

Sense 2, ‘one who lies in wait to ambush’, remains problematic. The DMLBS glosses the word plagiatorem in this particular citation as ‘maker of nets, trapper and seller of men or domestic beasts belonging to others’ (derived from plaga 2 (DMLBS 2303c), sense 6 ‘net’). It also interprets the word quchur in this instance as a variant spelling of cerchur, which is presumably cercheur (‘investigator’). Both formally and semantically this does not seem likely. Rather, the word could be interpreted as the verb coucher (‘to lie’) with an -our agent-suffix. This interpretation is also confirmed by the second vernacular gloss, awertur, which is probably aguaiteur.

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s.

1merch.occupationresident commercial agent in a foreign place
( 1363 )  Et outre est ordeiné qe chescun an soit mandé as meir et conestable de Burdeux, a la Rochell et as touz autres villes et portz en Gascoinge et aillours qe sont de la ligeance nostre seignur le roi hors de queux les vins vienent en Engleterre, d'estre certifié du pris des vins et autres custages et dé cochours engleis contre la fourme de estatut; Et par celle certification dé cochours contre l’estatut soient mis a respondre si le corps soit mandé […]  Rot Parl1 ii 279
2one who lies in wait to ambush (?)
( MS: s.xiv )  Inter cenandum autem quesivi a quodam colaterali mihi quisnam ille esset quem colomen, apparatorem calamistratum, cesium, atratum, tiphatum, ibi cernebam. Et ille respondit: ‘Hunc plagiatorem (glosses: quchur, awertur), scevium, intentorem, biliosum, multatorem, ganeonem, oblact[at]orem [...] nolo [ut] cognoscas’  TLL i 173.82, ii 42.82 and ii 58.82
3 name (used as a surname)
( 1248 )  Nicholas Cuchur  MED couchour n.
( 1295 )  Nicholas le Couchur  Family Names Cowcher
( 1381 )  Robertus le Coucher  Family Names Cowcher
couchour de pere
build.occupationmason, stone-layer
( 1295 )  qe vous facez porchacer […] couchours de pierre, et qe les facez venir […] a Maistre W. de A. qui la est pur redrescer le chastel et les murs de la ville  RLiR 58 484 (PRO SC 1/26/162)

a.?

chen couchour
mammalsven.zool.setter, type of dog used for hunting
( 1318; MS: s.xv )  . j. perdrigour, q’avera en sa garde .ij. cheins cochours  Ord York 271

[gdw]

See also:

couche  couchement  couchetref  coucher  couchure 
This is an AND2 Phase 1 (A-E) entry © 2000-2006 The Anglo-Norman Dictionary. On-line entry partially revised after the print version of AND2 went to press (2007-03-22) The printed edition of AND2 A-E is published by Taylor & Francis for the MHRA, sole owners of the print-media publication rights. All other rights reserved. Digitisation funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council of the United Kingdom.
quchur