Against a Wen
Encyclopedia
Against a Wen is an Old English
metrical charm and medical text found in the Lacnunga
. It appears to describe a remedy for ridding oneself of a wen
, which is an Old English term for a cyst or skin blemish. As cysts are commonly mobile masses on the skin, the charm is written to the wen itself, asking it to leave. The charm prescribes methods for curing the blemish, and describes it as it gradually shrinks until it disappears.
Old English language
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
metrical charm and medical text found in the Lacnunga
Lacnunga
The Lacnunga is a collection of miscellaneous Anglo-Saxon medical texts and prayers, written mainly in Old English and Latin. It is found, following other medical texts, in London, British Library Manuscript Harley 585, a codex probably compiled in England in the late tenth or early eleventh century...
. It appears to describe a remedy for ridding oneself of a wen
Sebaceous cyst
A sebaceous cyst is a term that loosely refers to either epidermoid cysts or pilar cysts . Because an epidermoid cyst originates in the epidermis and a pilar cyst originates from hair follicles, by definition, neither type of cyst is strictly a sebaceous cyst...
, which is an Old English term for a cyst or skin blemish. As cysts are commonly mobile masses on the skin, the charm is written to the wen itself, asking it to leave. The charm prescribes methods for curing the blemish, and describes it as it gradually shrinks until it disappears.