OSM Town Compass @compass

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**Old English Wordhord** @OEWordhord@mastodon.social · Apr 28

Old English Wordhord @OEWordhord@mastodon.social

disc-berend, m.n: dish-bearer, seneschal, steward. (DISH-BEH-rend / ˈdɪʃ-ˌbɛ-rɛnd)
Image: Smithfield Decretals; France, illuminated in England, 1330-1340; British Library, Royal MS 10 E IV, f. 263r.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

Medieval manuscript illustration of two servants carrying dishes to a long table, where a king sits with three other people and an assortment of dishes.

**Old English Wordhord** @OEWordhord@mastodon.social · Apr 25

Apr 25

Old English Wordhord @OEWordhord@mastodon.social

fācian, wk.v: to desire to obtain (something). (FA-ki-ahn / ˈfaː-kɪ-an)
Image: Ormesby Psalter; England (East Anglia), 1250-1330; Bodleian Library, MS. Douce 366, f. 131r.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

Medieval manuscript marginalia of a squirrel-holding woman reaching out for a ring held by a man with a hawk perched on his arm and a sword poking out of his torso; a dog sits between them facing the man, and a large cat eyes a large rat poking out of a hole in the decorative border.

**Old English Wordhord** @OEWordhord@mastodon.social · Apr 17

Apr 17

Old English Wordhord @OEWordhord@mastodon.social

for-swelgan, str.v: to swallow (something/someone) entirely, devour (something/someone) utterly. (for-SWELL-gahn / fɔr-ˈswɛl-gan)
Image: Ormesby Psalter; England (East Anglia), 1250-1330; Bodleian Library, MS. Douce 366, f. 71v.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

Medieval manuscript marginalia depicting a hooded man holding the midsection of a winged dragon while swallowing its head; a bird pecks its breast and a squirrel eats a nut nearby.

**Old English Wordhord** @OEWordhord@mastodon.social · Apr 10

Apr 10

Old English Wordhord @OEWordhord@mastodon.social

fæþm, m/f.n: bosom, embrace; grasp, clutch, possession; fathom (a unit of measurement). (FATH-um / ˈfæ-θəm)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

**Old English Wordhord** @OEWordhord@mastodon.social · Apr 8

Apr 8

Old English Wordhord @OEWordhord@mastodon.social

hand-cræft, m.n: skill or power of the hand. (HOND-KRAFT / ˈhand-ˌkræft)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

**Joshua H. Pollack** @desafinado@mastodon.social · Apr 7

Apr 7

Joshua H. Pollack @desafinado@mastodon.social

Word of the Day: bupkis, from Yiddish, meaning “nothing of any value.” Literally “little beans,” a euphemism for goat droppings. (Compare to “It doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.”)

Here’s a good illustration of how NOT to use “bupkis.”

Package of Manishewitz Honey Flavored Cake Mix bearing the dubious slogan “There’s bupkis like it!”

#wotd #yiddish #yinglish

**Old English Wordhord** @OEWordhord@mastodon.social · Apr 7

Apr 7

Old English Wordhord @OEWordhord@mastodon.social

bēag-wīse, f.n: circular shape. (BAY-ahg-WEE-zuh / ˈbeːag-ˌwiː-zə)
Image: Summa theologiae of Thomas Aquinas; France, main text 13th century, doodle 14th or 15th century; Conches-en-Ouche, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 7, f. 62r.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

A smiley face in a medieval manuscript appears to float up towards the text in a balloon.

**Old English Wordhord** @OEWordhord@mastodon.social · Apr 1

Apr 1

Old English Wordhord @OEWordhord@mastodon.social

wan-hoga, m.n: one who is wanting in understanding, a foolish, imprudent person. (WAHN-HOG-ah / ˈwan-ˌhɔ-ga)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

**Old English Wordhord** @OEWordhord@mastodon.social · Mar 30

Mar 30

Old English Wordhord @OEWordhord@mastodon.social

cnep, m.n: a top, summit. (K’NEP / ˈknɛp)
Image: A goat in a bestiary; England, 1275-1300; Cambridge, Trinity College Library, R.14.9, f. 91r.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

Medieval manuscript illustration of a goat on the top of a grassy hill, watching the approach of a traveller.

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**Dom Arbuthnott** @dominic@mastodon.green · Mar 13

Mar 13

Dom Arbuthnott @dominic@mastodon.green

@DreadShips very happy with my new #wotd, allision, the act of striking a fixed object

**Alliterative/Endless Knot** @AllEndlessKnot@toot.community · Mar 10

Mar 10

Alliterative/Endless Knot @AllEndlessKnot@toot.community

Today is #CommonwealthDay so the #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is COMMONWEALTH/MUTUAL/MAD/WILL #wotd #Commonwealth #mutual #mad #will

With the US descending into madness, Canada is increasingly turning to its Commonwealth ties for mutual support and good will, and this makes good etymological sense too. Common comes through Old French comun “common, general, free, open, public”, from Latin communis “common, general, universal, public”, ultimately traceable back to the Proto-Indo-European compound *ko-moin-i- “held in common” (with the prefix *ko- “together”), formed from the suffixed o-grade form *moi-n- of the root *mei- “to change, go, move”, which often has derivatives referring to the exchange of goods and services within a society regulated by custom or law. This root also came into Latin as mutuus “borrowed, lent; reciprocal, mutual”, which became Old French mutuel and was then borrowed into English in the late 15th c., originally with the sense “reciprocally given and received” with respect to feelings, eventually developing the sense “common” by the 1630s. This PIE root also came into the Germanic branch as Proto-Germanic *ga-maid-az “changed (for the worse), abnormal” (with the collective, intensive, and perfective prefix *ga-), which had the denominative form *ga-maid-jan, which came into Old English as *gemædan “to make insane or foolish” with the past participle gemæded “rendered insane”, eventually giving us the adjective mad.

Wealth (with the original sense of “state or condition of happiness, well-being, joy”) comes from Old English wele “well-being” + the noun-forming suffix -th denoting action, state, or quality, from Proto-Germanic *welon-, ultimately traceable back to the PIE root *wel- “to wish, will”, also the source of the Old English verb *willan “to wish” (which became the Modern English futural auxiliary verb will) and noun willa “desire, willpower”, which gives us the Modern English noun will.

**Old English Wordhord** @OEWordhord@mastodon.social · Mar 8

Mar 8

Old English Wordhord @OEWordhord@mastodon.social

mægden-cild, n.n: a female child. (MAEY-den-CHILLD / ˈmæj-dɛn-ˌtʃɪld)
Image: St Anne teaching the Virgin Mary to read, from a Book of Hours; France or England, c. 1430-40; J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. 5, f. 45v.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

Medieval manuscript illustration of a haloed woman holding a book open before her and a young haloed girl studying it carefully.

**Old English Wordhord** @OEWordhord@mastodon.social · Mar 5

Mar 5

Old English Wordhord @OEWordhord@mastodon.social

locc, m.n: hair, lock of hair. (LOCK / ˈlɔk)
Image: St Mary of Egypt in the Taymouth Hours; England, 1325-35; British Library, Yates Thompson MS 13, f. 188v.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

Medieval manuscript illustration of a haloed woman standing beside a tree holding three loaves of bread, clothed in nothing but her long, wavy hair that covers from her head to her ankles.

**Alliterative/Endless Knot** @AllEndlessKnot@toot.community · Mar 3

Mar 3

Alliterative/Endless Knot @AllEndlessKnot@toot.community

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is MEASLES/MEASLY/MISERY #wotd #measles #measly #misery #measlesoutbreak #antivaxx

Outbreaks of measles could easily be prevented by a measly little vaccination, avoiding much unneeded misery, if it weren’t for the antivaxxers. Measly is exactly what it looks like, the adjective form of measles, derived by adding the adjective forming suffix -y to the end of the word, and originally had the sense of “infected with measles” before developing the colloquial sense of “inferior, contemptible, of little value; paltry”. The word measles itself is the plural of Middle English masel “little spot”, which is a borrowing of either Middle Dutch masel “blemish” or Middle Low German masele, in either case ultimately from Proto-Germanic *mas- “spot, blemish”. The form and pronunciation of the word seems to have been influenced by the otherwise unrelated and now archaic English word mesel meaning “leper”, from Old French mesel “wretched, leprous; a wretch”, from Latin misellus “wretched, unfortunate”, a diminutive of miser “wretched, unfortunate, miserable”, which is the base of Latin miseria “wretchedness”, which itself passed through Old French misere “miserable situation, misfortune, distress”, to give us English misery.

**Old English Wordhord** @OEWordhord@mastodon.social · Mar 3

Mar 3

Old English Wordhord @OEWordhord@mastodon.social

stānincel, n.n: a little stone. (STAHN-IN-chell / ˈstaːn-ˌɪn-tʃɛl)
Image: Gospel Book; Germany (Hildesheim), 12th century (cover); Dom-Museum Hildesheim (DS 13).
#OldEnglish #WOTD

Medieval book cover with an ivory in the centre depicting the crucifixion, decorated around the frame with polished blue and red rock crystals.

**Tzip** @Tzipporah@turtleisland.social · Mar 2

Mar 2

Tzip @Tzipporah@turtleisland.social

Happy Tasahcuce!

Tasahcuce (Tah-sah-chu-jee) is Mvskoke for "March" or "Little Spring Month"

#Mvskoke #WOTD #WordOfTheDay

**Old English Wordhord** @OEWordhord@mastodon.social · Feb 27

Feb 27

Old English Wordhord @OEWordhord@mastodon.social

cyte, f.n: cot, cottage, bedchamber, cell. (KUE-tuh / ˈky-tə)
Image: Pontifical; England, c. 1400-1410; Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 079, f. 95v.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

Medieval manuscript image of a veiled woman looking out the window of a small stone cell with a cross, outside of which stands a bishop.

**Old English Wordhord** @OEWordhord@mastodon.social · Feb 25

Feb 25

Old English Wordhord @OEWordhord@mastodon.social

oxa, m.n: ox. (AWK-sa / ˈɔk-sa)
Image: Luttrell Psalter; N England (Lincolnshire), 1325-1340; British Library, Add MS 42130, f. 50r.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

Medieval manuscript image of a wide-eyed, red-orange ox with big feathery wings, grasping a blank scroll with one of its forelegs.

**Old English Wordhord** @OEWordhord@mastodon.social · Feb 22

Feb 22

Old English Wordhord @OEWordhord@mastodon.social

a-swǣman, v: to wander about. (ah-SWAM-ahn / a-ˈswæː-man)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

**Luke Dorny** @Luke@typo.social · Feb 19

Feb 19

Luke Dorny @Luke@typo.social

I’d be curious to find a word of the day account here. #words #wotd #etymology

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