Long & Short Reviews invites bloggers, this week, to share some obscure words we've learned and liked.
There are obvious reasons why one of my favorite obscure words remains obscure. The verb form, "assythe," seems to suggest its correct pronunciation but the noun form "assything" looks like something completely different. It means a gift, offered freely or imposed by a judge, to someone you insulted or offended. It's not compensation for damages; the idea here is to offer a gift nice enough to relieve the person's hurt feelings. "Sythe" is probably related to "soothe." /
A word this web site featured a few years ago was "galinsoga." It means a wild plant that can be eaten or used as a seasoning, but is often regarded as a weed. Food is not the only use that can be made of galinsoga. Though not usually considered very decorative, its flowers can look pleasant in arrangements. It can be dried and burned, or just allowed to displace nastier weeds like bermudagrass in the garden.
Galinsoga photo from Google; their latest Googlitch concealed the photographer's name.
"Murrey" is an old word meaning "mulberry-colored." It's a darker color than burgundy, reddish purple more than purplish red.
"Bananaquit'" is a cute word for a cute thing. In Jamaican dialect a "quit" is a small bird that might make a noise that sounds like "twit' or "quit." A bananaquit is a kind of small bird that flits around banana trees.
"Purfle" is a recent addition to my vocabulary. It means "to decorate the border of" anything, usually a piece of clothing or a violin. Chroniclers of the Tudor court described those monarchs wearing things "purfled with miniver," which means white fur.
Google has photos of these things, but Google is misbehaving and failing to display them here.
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