en bien emer
I've been looking at medieval reproduction poesy rings, one of which says "en bien emer", apparently in some sort of Middle French.
All the vendors selling these rings translate it as "encircle with love", and the only other information I can find is that this is the closest meaning, as it has no direct translation into modern English. Though I like this ring, being a linguist I have to know more. Can anyone provide a more detailed analysis, especially a word-for-word translation (or is it idiomatic, etc)?
Edit: if it makes any difference in analyzing the phrase, on the ring itself "en" and "bien" are smushed together - "enbien".
All the vendors selling these rings translate it as "encircle with love", and the only other information I can find is that this is the closest meaning, as it has no direct translation into modern English. Though I like this ring, being a linguist I have to know more. Can anyone provide a more detailed analysis, especially a word-for-word translation (or is it idiomatic, etc)?
Edit: if it makes any difference in analyzing the phrase, on the ring itself "en" and "bien" are smushed together - "enbien".