Babewyn

A babewyn was a grotesque figure used in architecture or decoration" (early 14c.); a gargoyle. The name comes from the French babouin meaning a "baboon”.

Gibson Girl

Prior to the age of the flapper, before the start of World War I, the Gibson Girl was the rage. Inspired by Charles Dana Gibson's drawings, the Gibson Girl wore her long hair loosely on top of her head and wore a long straight skirt and a shirt with a high collar. She was feminine but also broke through several gender barriers for her attire allowed her to participate in sports, including golf, roller skating, and bicycling.

Susan E. Meyer, in her book "America's Great Illustrators" described the Gibson Girl :
"She was taller than the other women currently seen in the pages of magazines.. infinitely more spirited and independent, yet altogether feminine.
She appeared in a stiff shirtwaist, her soft hair piled into a chignon, topped by a big plumed hat. Her flowing skirt was hiked up in back with just a hint of a bustle.
She was poised and patrician. Though always well bred, there often lurked a flash of mischief in her eyes."

Flapper

The term flapper in the 1920s referred to a "new breed" of young women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to the new jazz music and danced the Charleston. The name is said to come from the fact that they wore opened galoshes (boots) that flapped when they walked and danced. The cartoonist John Held is said to have depicted flappers in their galoshes but actually all the cartoons of his that I have found show the flappers in high heels with bows on the ankles.

Megrim

 
Megrim was an archaic term for a migraine; a fancy, a whim; a freak; or a caprice.
Megrims in the plural was a word used to refer to the blues; a state of depression.


A megrim is also a species of flatfish, a member of the sole family, caught off the Cornish coast but largely sent to Spain because we haven’t yet acquired the taste for it in this country..
 

Anomie

 
Anomie is a personal state of isolation and anxiety resulting from a lack of social control and regulation; a lack of moral standards in a society; apathy, alienation, and personal distress resulting from the loss of goals previously valued.
 

Moon People

I have just read the book "The Darkening Glass" by Paul Doherty. It is set in 1312 and includes a number of words which are no longer in general use and which I didn't recognise such as babewyn, hanaper and hobelar (you'll have to wait for those to appear on future postings!) but one phrase I came across left me bemused as I am unable to trace its meaning - Moon people.

The sentence in which it occurs is - "We met other travellers: moon people, gipsies in their gaily coloured wagons, merchants on horseback, trotting south to do business in the wool towns."

If anyone knows what moon people were can they please leave me a note in the comments!

Bookful

 
According to Dr Johnson’s Dictionary bookful referred to a person who was full of notions gleaned from books and ‘crouded with undigested knowledge’. I wonder what the computer equivalent is – webful or netful perhaps?
 

Thuribles and Thurifers

 


A thurible is a metal censer suspended from chains, in which incense is burned during worship services. The bearer of the Thurible is called the Thurifer.
 

Longueur

Longueur is a period of dullness or boredom (especially in a work of literature or performing art); a lengthy passage in a dramatic or literary work, especially a dull or tedious one.

(Can I take this opportunity at the New Year to thank my readers, in particular Shabby Girl, for their visits and their comments. Knowing you are out there makes doing this blog feel worthwhile. Hopefully there are not too many periods of dullness or boredom in the posts.)

Geomancy

Geomancy is divination by the earth. A widespread system of divination by means of designs drawn randomly on the ground with earth, sand, pollen, or other similar powders

Geomancy also refers to detecting, through calculations and signs, the hidden forces present in the landscape. In general, the influences of water veins, anomalies in the land and lines of the earth's magnetic fields are recognised. but there are alleged to be 280 further confirmed sorts of earth energies that influence us.