femble

1) The usual east-Yorkshire spelling of ‘fimble’, a word recorded from 1484 (OED). It is literally ‘female hemp’, and it applied to both the male plant and the fibre from it.

1422 Pro lxiij petris canobi de femell emptis apud Hull pro 1 novo cabill faciendo, York

1554 xiiij payre of femble shetes, Brantingham

1621 one femble codwaire, South Cave.

dates 1422 1554 1621

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