E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Reyn’ard the Fox.
The hero in the beast-epic of the fourteenth century. This prose poem is a satire on the state of Germany in the Middle Ages. Reynard typifies the church; his uncle, Isengrin the wolf, typifies the baronial element; and Nodel the lion, the regal. The word means deep counsel or wit. (Gothic, raginohart, cunning in counsel; Old Norse, hreinn and ard; German, reineke.) (Reynard is commonly used as a synonym of fox. (Heinrich von Alkmaar.)
1
“Where prowling Reynard trod his nightly round.”
Bloomfield: Farmer’s Boy.
Reynard the Fox. Professedly by Hinreck van Alckmer, tutor of the Duke of Lorraine. This name is generally supposed to be a pseudonym of Hermann Barkhusen, town clerk and book printer in Rostock. (1498.)
2
False Reynard. So Dryden describes the Unitarians in his Hind and Panther. (See RENARD.)
