interesting

Popple

Hannah McCall 9 Comments

Popple has a number of meanings. It can be used to mean the poplar tree, cornfield weeds, or to make a constant popping sound.

RiverThe meaning I particularly like is ‘to flow in a tumbling or rippling manner’ or ‘to heave or bubble’ (both of water). A connected meaning is ‘to bob up and down on the surface of rippling water’.

It can also be used as a noun for ‘a rolling or rippling of water’ or ‘a choppy body of water’.

Popple is considered imitative – it reproduces the sound of the thing it is describing.

“The sound of waters dropping, poppling, splashing, trickling.”

– C. J. Cornish, The Naturalist on the Thames. 1902

It is thought to originate from the Middle Dutch word popelen, meaning ‘to murmur’ or ‘to mumble’. The OED also gives comparisons with the West Frisian word popelje, meaning ‘to throb’ or ‘to bubble up’, and the regional German word poppeln, meaning ‘to bubble’.

The earliest usage recorded by the OED was c1400. And it isn’t just used for descriptions of the natural world.

“His brains came poppling out like water.”

– Charles Cotton, Burlesque upon burlesque. 1675

Source:

  • The Oxford English Dictionary Online

Psychopomp

Hannah McCall 3 Comments

This week’s interesting word may be familiar to Greek mythology and ancient history enthusiasts. It is usually applied to figures such as Charon, Hecate, Hermes, Apollo and Anubis.

HandA psychopomp is a mythical guide of souls to the place of the dead. It can also be a spiritual guide of a living person’s soul.

Psychopomp is pronounced just as you would expect (you can listen to it here). The word is derived from the Greek word psukhopompos meaning ‘conductor or guide of souls’ – psukhē means ‘soul’ and pompos means ‘conductor’. According to the OED, the first recorded usage was in 1603.

Psychopompal and psychopompous can be used as adjectives and psychopompically is the adverb:

“I, Hermes-like, am coming to fetch you psychopompically to Hell.”

– Rupert Brooke, The letters of Rupert Brooke (1968). 1908

If you have an interest in psychology, you might recognise psychopomp as the term Jung used for the anima or animus (the link between the true inner self and the unconscious).

Source:

  • The Oxford English Dictionary Online

Tellurian

Hannah McCall 6 Comments

EarthThis week’s interesting word is likely to be well known to lovers of science fiction.

Tellurian can be used as an adjective to mean ‘of, inhabiting or relating to the earth’. Readers, writers and watchers of science fiction will probably be familiar with the noun meaning ‘an inhabitant of the planet earth’.

Tellus (or tellur) is the Latin word for earth or ground. Tellus is also the name of the goddess of the earth in Roman mythology or a personified version of the earth (usually female).

Tellurian was used to refer to the earth in the late 18th century, as shown here:

"It will show the heliocentric position of the telurian orb." A Short Account of the Solar System, Bartholomew Burges. 1789.

Its use to mean ‘a person from the planet earth’ was established and flourishing in fiction by the mid 19th century. The text the following example is taken from is available to read on Google Books:

[Spoken by the Man in the Moon] "What monster have we here?—Away, Tellurian!" Blackwood's Magazine, May p555. 1828.

Source: The Oxford English Dictionary (online)

Horripilation

Hannah McCall 7 Comments

ColdHorripilation is the erection of hairs on the skin caused by cold, fear, excitement or other emotion.

The OED provides one early definition from 1656:

“Horripilation, the standing up of the hair for fear..a sudden quaking, shuddering or shivering.” Glossographia, Thomas Blount.

The word originates from the Latin horrere meaning (of hair) ‘to stand on end’ and pilus meaning ‘hair’. Horrere also means ‘to tremble’ or ‘dread’.

Something that causes this reaction is described as horripilant. Horripilate is the form meaning ‘to undergo or to cause horripilation’.

Lallygag

Hannah McCall 6 Comments

DanceLallygag (or lollygag) is an American slang word. It means ‘to spend time aimlessly’, ‘to be idle’ or ‘to fool around’. It can also mean ‘dawdle’ or ‘dally’.

The origin appears to be unknown. The word forms include lallygagged and lallygagging.

The OED gives examples of early usage, and this one caught my eye:

“The lascivious lolly-gagging lumps of licentiousness who disgrace the common decencies of life by their love-sick fawnings at our public dances.” Northern Vindicator (Estherville, Iowa), 1868.

That’s impressive alliteration and I only wish I could view the rest of the newspaper article (or letter – I bet it’s from a letter).

Pie-biter

Hannah McCall 1 Comment

It’s British Pie Week. It is therefore only fitting that this week’s interesting word should be related to pie.

PieA pie-biter is a person who eats or really likes pies. It can also be a greedy person or animal, or a person who accepts political favours (pie is a slang word for political favour or patronage).

Although rare, pie-biter is a colloquial term typically used in the United States or as derogatory slang in Australia (where the meaning is often ‘a fat person’).

The origin of the word is straightforward: pie meaning ‘a baked dish with a pastry top and/or base’ and biter meaning ‘someone who or something that bites’.

The earliest documented usage in the OED is from 1863.