Wondrous Words Wednesday 37

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Kathy at the Bermuda Onion where you "can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love. Feel free to get creative!"

I am totally in a -12 degree wind chill outside, everything is blah, funk. But - words are fun! So in an attempt to cheer myself up, here are a few words - mostly from books that I thought were pretty meh, which doesn't help - that I thought were interesting ...

hobbledehoy /ˈhäbəldēˌhoi/
1 noun: an awkward gawky youth - usually referencing a young man or boy.

1 adjective: awkward or clumsy.

Origin: unknown OR variant of hoberdyhoy, alliterative compound, equivalent to hoberd (variant of Roberd Robert) +  -hoy for boy
First Known Use: 1530 - 1540

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beldam \ˈbel-dəm\

1:  an old woman 

an old woman, esp an ugly or malicious one; hag

 --- witch, crone, hag  

2: [Obsolete] grandmother. 

 

Orgin: Middle English beldam grandmother, from Anglo-French bel beautiful + Middle English dam

First Known Use: 1520

Wait, what??? this word went from standing for grandmother to standing for witch or hag???  What happened?  The original construction is beautiful woman - what the heck is the etymology of this word?  

"aged woman," 1570s; earlier "grandmother" (mid-15c.), from dame (q.v.) in the sense of "mother" + bel-, Middle English prefix expressing relationship (cf. belfader, belsire "grandfather"), from Old French bel, belle "beautiful, fair, fine" (see belle ). This "direct relationship" sense of bel is not found in French, where the prefix is used to form words for in-laws.

I will try to sort this out later.  Sheesh!
 

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jobbernoll
1: The head; the pate.
2: A stupid fellow; a loggerhead; a blockhead.[Vulgar in both senses] 
from The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, Part 11
 edited by William Dwight Whitney
From A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew, In its several Tribes of Gypsies, Beggers, Thieves, Cheats, &c. with An Addition of some Proverbs, Phrases, Figurative Speeches, &c. Useful for all sorts of People, (especially Foreigners) to secure their Money and preserve their Lives; besides very Diverting and Entertaining, being wholly New by  which was published in London in 1699

 a "jobbernoll" means "a very silly Fellow."

" Calf," meaning a fool (as witness Cotgraves definition of " Veau, a calfe or veale ; also alozell, hoydon, dunce, jobbernoll, doddipole" from Elizabethan England..

(this one was tough because the Jobberknoll from Harry Potter has almost driven out the original word!) 

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vingt-et-un \ˌvan-ˌtā-ˈən\

:  blackjack

Origin: French, literally, twenty-one (Well duh!  I clearly didn't think that one through.)

First Known Use: 1772

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bag·wig \ˈbag-ˌwig\

:  an 18th century wig with the back hair enclosed in a small silk bag 

First Known Use : 1717

Gentleman's Queue Bag
18th Century
Gentlemen wore a queue bag to "contain the pony tail" 

of their own hair or a wig to keep their collars and clothes clean.
Silk, linen. W 12.1, L 25.4 cm
Morristown National Historic Park, MORR 3932

Sounds hideously uncomfortable!

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gadroon /ɡəˈdro͞on /

1:  the ornamental notching or carving of a rounded molding

2:  a short often oval fluting or reeding used in decoration

— gadroon transitive verb

— ga·droon·ing noun

 : noun A decorative edging on metal or wood, typically formed by inverted flutings.
Origin late 17th century: from French godron, probably related to goder 'to pucker', also to godet.

American railroad holloware creamer jug with
gadrooning on the lower body (Wikipedia)

 

Happy Wednesday! Stay Warm !