Seldom Used Words (Cont'd)

Handley, you are so right. My confusion came from my dictionary; [Sp, modif. of L lutra otter; akin to the OE oter otter]. My apologies to the otter and the coypu.

nutation - noun 1. the act of nodding the head 2. a libratory motion of the earth's axis like the nodding of a top 3. a spontaneous usually spiral movement of a growing plant part

nutant - adj DROOPING, NODDING
 
I must go offline and get a few things done, but it has been a blast to be back here, doing what I love to do, after such a long absence.

nutria - noun 1. COYPU 2. the durable usually light brown fur of the coypu (otter)
I wonder if that implies that Coypu are Nutritious? Or full of Nutrients?

nu·tri·tious
adjective

: having substances that a person or animal needs to be healthy and grow properly : promoting good health and growth


NUTRIENT
: furnishing nourishment
 
I'd suffer from brain-lock trying to figure out if a word was archaic, obsolete, or just seldom used. :p

Perhaps we can can get Laurel or Manu to merge this thread into yours: http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=972395
Well, the threads did get merged, but the forum software apparently used the earlier first post -- oh well :rolleyes:

gee gees
British slang for horses. Used in particular in betting terms.
I won five hundred quid on the gee gees yesterday.

(other sources say it is used with young children because it's easier to pronounce than "horse')
 
Harold, I see what you mean, but it is all fine with me as long as I can reap the wonderful information that has been posted to the seldom-used words thread in all its forms. Thanks for all your help and support.

I have never heard anyone call a suckling infant this before, but it makes sense;

nursling - noun 1. one that is solicitously cared for 2. a nursing child

While checking out the definitions for nurse, I found the verb form addresses nursing from the breast of the mother, but the noun form of nurse defines it as a woman who gives suck to someone else's child, as in wet nurse.
 
chthonian (also chthonic): adj of or pertaining to beings who dwell under the earth, especially deities or spirits. From the Greek chthon meaning earth.

You may want to look into linguistic archaeology, a particular branch of archaeology that deals with word origins.
 
Thanks for the tip, 1sickbastard. It makes sense that there is a branch of archeology devoted to word origins.

It is the second definition that might be seldom-used by the general public;

nuptial(1) - adj 1. of or relating to marriage or the marriage ceremony 2. characteristic of the breeding season
 
Thanks for the tip, 1sickbastard. It makes sense that there is a branch of archeology devoted to word origins.

It is the second definition that might be seldom-used by the general public;

nuptial(1) - adj 1. of or relating to marriage or the marriage ceremony 2. characteristic of the breeding season

I thought it was NUPTUAL
 
related to nuptial

Nubile:[noo-bil, -bahyl, nyoo-] adjective
1. (of a young woman) suitable for marriage, especially in regard to age or physical development; marriageable.
2. (of a young person, usually a woman) sexually developed and attractive: the nubile girls in their bikinis.
Origin: 1635–45; < Latin nūbilis, equivalent to nūb ( ere ) to marry (see nuptial) + -ilis -ile

Related forms
nu·bil·i·ty [noo-bil-i-tee, nyoo-], noun
 
Weregild:noun (literally, man-price)
1. money paid to the relatives of a murder victim in compensation for loss and to prevent a blood feud.
2. the amount of money fixed as compensation for the murder or disablement of a person, computed on the basis of rank.


I find the word fascinating, not only because ir is seldom used, but as legal concept.
 
Weregild:noun (literally, man-price)
1. money paid to the relatives of a murder victim in compensation for loss and to prevent a blood feud.
2. the amount of money fixed as compensation for the murder or disablement of a person, computed on the basis of rank.


I find the word fascinating, not only because ir is seldom used, but as legal concept.
That would seem to be the precedent or origin of damage awards in a wrongful death civil lawsuit (whether criminal prosecution for murder was successful or not.)
 
Related forms
nu·bil·i·ty [noo-bil-i-tee, nyoo-], noun

Not, I suspect, to be confused with nobility

1. A class of persons distinguished by high birth or rank and in Great Britain including dukes and duchesses, marquises and marchionesses, earls and countesses, viscounts and viscountesses, and barons and baronesses: "The old English nobility of office made way for the Norman nobility of faith and landed wealth" (Winston S. Churchill).
2. Noble rank or status: Congress may not grant titles of nobility.
3. The state or quality of being exalted in character.
 
That would seem to be the precedent or origin of damage awards in a wrongful death civil lawsuit (whether criminal prosecution for murder was successful or not.)

Actually, it was more about avoiding blood-feuds between families and had little to do with 'criminal prosecution'. Even an accidental death could trigger a cycle of revenge killings. Outright murder (intended or not) could raise the price of the weregild. Members of the nobility and their armed vassals rarely faced imprisonment (which is a very recent innovation, historically speaking) or execution for killing another person, so punishment was payment of the weregild and often some other form of penance (exile to a monastery, a pilgrimage to the holy land, or in the latter middle ages, a command to go fight in a Crusade are usual examples) was assigned.
 
Handley, I am not sure there is a word nuptual. It is not in my dictionary at any rate.

Very interesting, 1sickbastard, weregilds were paid to families to deter blood feuds. It is a word that will remain in my memory, thanks to you, and probably end up in one of my books.

This one is probably used more than I know;

nuncupative - adj not written, ORAL [a ~ will]

But is this one?

nuncle - noun (resulting from incorrect division of an uncle) chiefly dial: UNCLE
 
Troll sat alone on his seat of stone,
And munched and mumbled a bare old bone;
For many a year he had gnawed it near,
For meat was hard to come by.
Done by! Gum by!
In a cave in the hills he dwelt alone,
And meat was hard to come by.

Up came Tom with his big boots on.
Said he to the Troll: 'Pray, what is yon?
For it looks like the shin o'my nuncle Tim
As should be a-lyin' in a graveyard.
Caveyard! Paveyard!
This many a year has Tim been gone,
And I thought he were lyin' in a graveyard

'My lad,' said Troll, 'this bone I stole.
But what be bones that lie in a hole?
Thy nuncle was dead as a lump o'lead,
Afore I found his shinbone.
Tinbone! Thinbone!
He can spare a share for a poor old troll,
For he don't need his shinbone.'

Said Tom: 'I don't see why the likes o'thee
Without axin' leave should go makin' free
With the shank or the shin o'my father's kin;
So hand the old bone over!
Rover! Trover!
Though dead he be, it belongs to he;
So hand the old bone over!'

'For a couple o'pins,' says Troll and grins,
'I'll eat thee too, and gnaw thy shins.
A bit o'fresh meat will go down sweet!
I'll try my teeth on thee now.
Hee now! See now!
I'm tired o'gnawing old bones and skins;
I've a mind to dine on thee now.'

But just as he thought his dinner was caught,
He found his hands had hold of naught.
Before he could mind, Tom slipped behind
And gave him the boot to larn him.
Warn him! Darn him!
A bump o'the boot on the seat, Tom thought,
Would be the way to larn him.

But harder than stone is the flesh and bone
Of a troll that sits in the hills alone
As well set your boot to the mountain's root,
For the seat of a troll don't feel it.
Peel it! Heal it!
Old Troll laughed, when he heard Tom groan,
And he knew his toes could feel it.

Tom's leg is game, since home he came,
And his bootless foot is lasting lame;
But Troll don't care, and he's still there
With the bone he boned from its owner.
Doner! Boner!
Troll's old seat is still the same,
And the bone he boned from its owner!

~From "Fellowship of the Ring"
 
Hugger-mugger

hugger-mugger

adjective
adjective: huggermugger
1.confused; disorderly.
"a spirit of careless frivolity where all was hugger-mugger"
2.secret; clandestine.

noun
noun: huggermugger
1.confusion; muddle.
2.secrecy.
 
But is this one?

nuncle - noun (resulting from incorrect division of an uncle) chiefly dial: UNCLE

Surely you've heard norange, napple, and nonion. (Our daughter, when she was little, spoke of yunnions. Probably from incorrectly dividing the onion.)

I believe nuncle can be found in Shakespeare, but I may be mistaken.
 
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Actually, it was more about avoiding blood-feuds between families and had little to do with 'criminal prosecution'. Even an accidental death could trigger a cycle of revenge killings. ...

What I meant was civil suits for "wrongful death" are the modern equivalent. Blood feuds are rare in modern times, but those who cause another's death can be required to pay or otherwise "make restitution" in much the same way weregild was assessed.
 
Nuncle was said in Halliwells Dictionary of Archaic words(1851) to mean uncle but in Northern English dialect it was also a verb meaning to cheat.

Incidentally, Tolkien as an expert on Old and Middle English would have been well aware that he could have written Thine uncle and been equally correct.
 
How about
Gynecomastia: Abnormal enlargement of the breast in a male

Aka "Man boobs"
 
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Welcome emma_the_librarian and Erochic, and thanks for posting such great words.

1sickbastard, I forgot all about nuncle being in Tolkien's writings. Thanks for the refresher.

Carlus, I do believe I missed out on those other N words you mentioned. Babytalk can produce some interesting alterations in words, that is for sure. When my first son wanted to nurse, I tried to teach him the word nipple, but it came out babu and stayed there. No one else could understand what he wanted but me! LOL

numinous - adj 1. SUPERNATURAL, MYSTERIOUS 2. filled with a sense of the presence of divinity: HOLY 3. appealing to the higher emotions or to the aesthetic sense: SPIRITUAL
 
For all newcomers, I originally started this thread, even though it shows Weird Harold as the OP, and that is why I am compelled to welcome you.

Yesterday was a very busy shopping day and I am glad that is over.

numen - noun pl numina a spirit believed to inhabit a natural object, phenomenon, or locality
 
Weregild:noun (literally, man-price)
1. money paid to the relatives of a murder victim in compensation for loss and to prevent a blood feud.
2. the amount of money fixed as compensation for the murder or disablement of a person, computed on the basis of rank.


I find the word fascinating, not only because ir is seldom used, but as legal concept.

I have often seen this written Weregeld, even in old texts.

.
 
Darn: from Middle English dernen, "to hide or to keep secret". Modern usage is as a synonym for damn. Less commonly, meaning to repair or stitch up a hole in fabric, as in "I need to darn this sock".
 
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