Note 567 — Chapter VI · ‘Nicknames.’
Reading edition
‘1438.’ “Item, pro aula ‘Olefante,’ Magister Kyllynworth.” (Mun. Acad. Oxon. p. 522.) This hall or smaller college was so called from the sign over the door. Skelton has both ‘olyfant’ and ‘olyphante.’ He describes a woman in ‘Eleanor Rummyng’ as
‘Necked lyke an olyfant.’