Magda,

I have a degree in medieval English Literature (yeah, yeah, snicker you all... but it's a fantastic growth industry, really ;-)), so I asked my prof about it when I couldn't find anything in my resources here.

This is her answer:
The only Old English word I could find is "sucan" = to suck, as in "tha breost sucan" - to suck the breast (another word for breast is "titt", interestingly enough). I suspect that Middle English is pretty much the same.

Dorothy Ann Bray,
Associate Professor,
Director, Graduate Program in English,
Department of English,
McGill University,
853 Sherbrooke Street West,
Montreal, QC,
Canada H3A 2T6

I'm guessing it was just so normal among everyone but the rich who hired wet-nurses that the distinction b/w bfing and nursing wasn't there. Leave it to us to split hairs.

BTW, Middle English word for passing gas: fart (Chaucer's Canterbury Tales Miller's Tale, line 3806). There are countless more, but let's just say they called a spade a spade.

Best,
Natalie Rawlings Kraut
LLL Leader, Plantation, FL
Area Conference Supervisor, LLL-FL

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