Also 4–5 (9 Hist.) trentale, 4–6 -alle, 5 -ayl, -el, -elle, (trintal), 5–7 trentall, (6 treigntalle). [ad. med.(eccl.)L. trentāle (12th c. in Du Cange), f. pop.L. *trenta, *trinta (:—L. trīgintā, whence F. trente thirty) + -āl-is, -āle, -AL. So OF. trentel (12th c. in Godef.).]
1. A set of thirty requiem masses, said on the same day or on different days; also, the payment made for this. arch. and Hist.
13[?]. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., xxxiv., heading. Þe Pope trental. Ibid., lf. 303. Here bygunnet þe guldene trental þat ouȝte be loued swyþe wel. [Cf. xxxiv. 126 Let sei þeos Masses bi ȝoure hestes Wiþ-Inne þe vtaues of þe ffestes.]
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sompn. T., 26. Trentals seyde he, deliueren fro penaunce Hir freendes soules.
c. 1420. Anturs of Arth., 218. Were thritty trentales done, By-twene vnder and none.
1487. Paston Lett., III. 463. Every weke folowing unto my monthes mynde oon trentall, and iij. trentalles at my monthes mynde.
1530. Lyndesay, Test. Papyngo, 695. With gret blys, bury we sall ȝour bonis, Syne trentalls twenty trattyll all at onis.
1531. Wills & Inv. N. C. (Surtees, 1903), 127. Three treigntalles of masse.
1593. Bell, Motives Romish Faith (1605), 24. For which Masses, Diriges, and Trentals, huge summes of money are giuen daily.
1694. Motteux, Rabelais (1737), V. 221. Obits, Trentals, and Services for the Dead.
1813. Scott, Rokeby, V. xxvii. Let mass be said, and trentals read.
1881. Bridgett, Hist. Holy Eucharist, II. xi. 150. St. Gregory’s Trental … consisted of ten different masses three times repeated…. According to … others they were said in thirty consecutive days, and even by thirty priests in one day.
† b. transf. A set or series of thirty. Obs. rare.
1508. Kennedie, Flyting w. Dunbar, 319. Thow says for thame few psaltris, psalmis, or creidis. Bot geris me tell thair trentalis of misdeidis.
1586. P. Wyot, Diary, Oct., in Chanter, Sk. Lit. Hist. Barnstaple (1866), 92. On St. Luke’s day this yere there was a trental of sermons at Pylton.
† c. loosely. An elegy or dirge. Obs.
1648. Herrick, Hesper., Dirge upon Death of B. Stuart. Soft silence let us have, While we this Trentall sing about thy grave. Ibid., To Julia. Deare Julia, thou shalt have A trentall sung by virgins o’re thy grave.
2. Used as = MONTH’S MIND, the commemoration service on the thirtieth day after burial. arch.
1659. H. L’Estrange, Alliance Div. Off., 302. The thirtieth [day] (called therefore … in old English the Months-mind, in after times the Trental).
1860. Reade, Cloister & H., ci. The convent will keep his trentals, but will feast, not fast.
3. attrib. and Comb.
1471. in Somerset Medieval Wills (1901), 222. Item, to Sir John Cerne to say a trentall mass for me, 2s. 6d.
1591. Troub. Raigne K. John (1611), 60. The arch prowd titled Priest of Italy,… Is busied now with trentall obsequies,… To case their soules in painefull purgatorie.
