In a message dated 7/9/2007 2:11:29 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
He likely meant "sliced or cut up," describing the appearance of the flesh
after a severe lashing (viz: scalloped potatoes). Does the corpus of the
good Reverend's writing display any confusion of words and/or bad spelling?
If not, then I'll bet if he had meant scalped, he would have written
scalped.
American Heritage Dictionary:
scalloped - transitive verb - 3. to cut meat into thin boneless slices
He is pretty literate. Well, he seems to be, but there is a wildcard: these
letters were transcribed and published (by U of Cal) in the 1950s. The editor
says he changed ye to the and added the double year designations
(1708/1709). He doesn't SAY he corrected or changed spelling, but I haven't noticed the
usual bad spelling you seen in early 18th c. documents...
************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.