BRESEYDA, BRIXSEYDA. Briseis, a captive woman from Lyrnesus in Mysia, was given to Achilles to be his slave during the Trojan War. Agamemnon compelled Achilles to give her to him, whereupon Achilles remained in his tent and sulked over his loss, while Hector defeated the Greeks. Briseis tells her story in Iliad XIX.282-300; Ovid tells of Achilles's desertion in Heroides III.

The Man of Law says that Chaucer has narrated "the wo of Brixseyda," MLI 70-71, but there is no tale of Briseida in The Legend of Good Women. The story of her betrayal is a one-line reference, HF I.398. [Achille]

Breseyda is derived from the accusative case, Briseida, feminine of Briseis, the Greek patronymic, meaning "daughter of Briseus," which occurs in Latin; it appears medially, HF I.398. Brixseyda, with intrusive -x, points to a variant pronunciation in -x for words where it represents -s, as in Amphiorax. It appears medially, MLI 71.