Inglenook

Is there a warmer sounding word than inglenook. It sums up the whole idea of sitting cosily by a large log fire on a winter's day.

An inglenook is a corner or nook beside the fireplace; a chimney corner. the word can also be used for a seat or bench placed within that place.

Halcyon

A watercolour entitled Halcyon Days by Anna O'Hara

Halcyon days are happy, sunny, care-free, idyllically calm and peaceful; suggestive of happy tranquillity; golden; marked by peace and prosperity.

This is strange in a way because the term comes from the mythological bird of Greek origins that was a transformation of the grieving Alcyone who, upon learning her husband was dead, became a kingfisher. In fact the meaning of the English word was influenced by the fabled bird because it was supposed to have had the power to calm the wind and the waves while it nested on the sea during the winter solstice.


This is the White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) (from RichardSeaman.com)

Ethereal

Ethereal is another of those words that sounds as good as its meaning.

It means gaseous; invisible but detectable; aeriform: characterized by lightness and insubstantiality; as impalpable or intangible as air; characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy.

Breeching

This photo shows Dad between his brother Frank and his mother, prior to being breeched.

Breeching was the occasion when a small boy was first dressed in breeches or trousers. From the mid-16th century until the late 19th or early 20th century, young boys in the Western world were unbreeched and wore gowns or dresses until an age that varied between two or three and seven or eight. Sometimes a breeching party would be given to celebrate the end of his childhood.


This is my Uncle Eric (on left with Mum on the right) in 1913 at the age of one, prior to being breeched.

Albert

What have the Prince Consort of Queen Victoria of England (1819-1861), a high quality car, a railway engine, a slipper, horseradish sauce and a watch chain all got in common?

The answer - as you will have guessed from the header - is the name Albert.


The Albert was a high quality British automobile designed by A. O. Lord and manufactured in Vauxhall between 1920 and 1924. The car was powered by a proprietary 1495 cc ohv engine made by Gwynne and boasted a radiator similar to that of the Rolls-Royce. The body was mainly made of aluminium and most were 4 seat tourers.


An Albert was also a men’s slipper style with a tongue like extension of the upper over the instep.


Albert is a French name for English hot horseradish sauce.


Albert is also a red Furness Railway J1 2-4-2 tank engine with a yellow FR on him who worked on the Lakeside branch, as seen in the book Thomas and Victoria by Reverend W.V. Awdry.


The watch chain on the left is a double albert and on the right a single albert.

Quite a useful word, old Albert!

Spill

There are all sorts of meaning for the word spill but one of the lesser known ones is a piece of paper or thin wood used to light a cigar or cigarette from a fire or candle. Spills for lighting cigars were usually made of cedar wood as this was supposed to help retain the flavour of the tobacco. Using candles, sulphur matches or lighter fluid all tainted the cigar.


We used to make spills of waste paper by folding a piece of paper about 6 to 8 inches long and an inch and half wide lengthwise in half and then over in half again and then once again. They were stored on the hearth in this wooden container which, I think, was made by Dad.



My grandmother also had spills in her fireplace and I think they were kept in this old brass cartridge case.

Dandiprat

A dandiprat was an English coin worth three half-pence. The name was also used for an insignificant or contemptible person.

Dr Johnson in his 1755 Dictionary defined it as - "A little fellow, an urchin. A word used sometimes in fondness, sometimes in contempt."

Diaphanous

Diaphanous is variously described as meaning "so thin as to transmit light; sheer; transparent or semi- transparent; or filmy and floating".

I think diaphanous is a beautiful sounding word for a beautiful concept. (The photo is from an unknown source on the web).

Colporter

A colporter or colporteur is a peddler of religious books. Colportage is the distribution of religious publications, books, tracts, etc., - the carriers being called colporteurs.


(Not to be confused with a certain Cole Porter!!)

Chatoyant

Literally meaning ‘like a cat’s eye’. chatoyant means having a certain optical reflectance effect, which can be likened to the sheen of a spool of silk.


The term, defined also as ‘varying in colour when seen in different lights or from different angles’, is most frequently used to describe the effect of certain semi-precious stones such as Tiger Eye Quartz or the finish of certain woods like Flame-figured Maple.