The English language is constantly in flux with new terms like “‘zine” and “net-surfing” making their way into dictionaries every year while other terms slip into obscurity.
What a pity. Some of the lost words of the past might be cumbersome for modern tongues but they can’t be beat for whimsy, color and, in some cases, dead-on accuracy.
Now Jeffrey Kacirk, a man with a love for antique dictionaries, resurrects dozens of these archaic gems in “Forgotten English: A Merry Guide to Antiquated Words” (William Morrow & Co.). A sampling:
Ambodexter — A contemptuous term for an unethical lawyer (15th to 18th centuries).
Bosom-serpent — A person treated with kindness and affection who returns the favor by inflicting an emotionally venomous wound (17th Century).
Eye-servant — Devious employee who is too lazy to work except within “eyeshot” of his master (16th to 19th Centuries).
Stangster — A husband with marital problems, due either to his mistreatment of his wife or being henpecked by her.
Farctate — The condition of being bloated or full after a large meal (17th Century).
Piggesnye — A term of endearment coined by Geoffrey Chaucer, meaning, literally, “darling little pig’s eye.”
Fribbler — A man who is infatuated with a woman but is unwilling to commit himself to her (18th Century).
Prickmedainty — A man about town coifed in an overly careful manner and “ridiculously exact in dress or carriage” (16th Century).
Grog-blossom — The red nose of a long-term drinker (18th Century).
Bespawl — Verb for an insulting gesture, meaning specifically “to bespatter with saliva.” (17th Century).
Bladderskate — An indistinct or indiscreet talker (16th Century).
Gorgayse — Middle English word for “elegant, fashionable.”
Catchpoule — Old English term for tax collector.
Feague — To administer to a horse a suppository made of raw ginger. The practice is said to have been used by horse dealers to make the horse livelier (18th Century).
Groaning-cheese — A large, special cheese, originally from the north of England, that was provided until the 19th Century by a husband to soothe his wife during childbirth.
Amober — `The “maiden fee,” paid to a feudal lord to compensate him for forfeiting primae noctis — his right to deflower a new bride on her wedding night. (Medieval term).
Fotadl — The gout (14th Century).
Sillyebubbe — A popular English beverage of the 16th to 19th centuries made by milking a cow directly into spiced cider or wine.
Twychild — An elderly man or woman (17th Century).
Ale-connor — An English official assigned to sample ale for quality (11th to 18th Century).
Flitterwochen — Old English term for honeymoon.
Salvor — A medieval servant whose job was to sample food and drink intended for his masters to be sure it didn’t contain poison. To add insult to injury, he was originally called a “sewer.”
Inkhornism — A literary composition that was overwritten and unnecessarily intellectual (16th Century).
Mumpsimus — An incorrect opinion stubbornly clung to (16th Century).
Bone-fire — Pagan ritual in which animal bones were burned to frighten off goblins. Gradually evolved into our “bonfire” (16th to 18th Centuries).
Gargarice — Old French word for mouthwash (13th Century).
Sockdolager — Punchline (19th Century).
