A few months ago, our own Karen Witemeyer wrote a great post called Word Nerd about the enjoyment she takes in learning the history behind some of the words she comes across while researching and writing her novels. I too, consider myself a word nerd, and the one tab I almost always have open when I’m writing and editing is the Online Etymology Dictionary, so I can check to see if words I want to use were in use during my time period and meant what I think they meant!
My friends, Regency and Victorian authors Erica Vetsch and Michelle Griep, love words, too. Maybe we all do! On the Facebook group we manage called Inspirational Regency Readers, we recently began a new feature called Thesaurus Thursdays where we share some interesting (and sometimes funny) words and phrases we’ve discovered.
Here are a few examples:
Coddiwomple: To travel purposely toward an as-yet-unknown destination. (Notecards available here.)
Balter: To dance gracelessly, without particular art or skill, but perhaps with some enjoyment. (Sounds like fun!)
And here are two Michelle Griep recently posted:
Civil Whiskers: Does this sound like a well-groomed beard to you? According to Michelle: “That’s not at all what this phrase meant to someone in the Regency era. In fact, even women partook of civil whiskers right in their own parlors, for this merely means polite small talk.”
A Fudge: “This conjures up delicious, creamy chocolate, doesn’t it? Nope. Not even close. A fudge is a false rumor, so nothing you’d want to indulge in.”
If you also like learning about old and odd words, I invite you to join us at Inspirational Regency Readers, a fun, interactive readers group on FB where we post frequent content about Christian and clean romances, the Regency era, favorite Jane Austen adaptations, and more, as well as regular features: Monday Pick One, Teacup Tuesday, Workforce Wednesday, Thesaurus Thursday, Fashion Friday, and Saturday Serenity.
I invite you to coddiwomple on over. 😊 I’ll look forward to seeing you there!
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What fun words, Julie! I definitely am someone who like to balter. 🙂 I wonder if the “false rumor” definition of fudge contributed to the current slang of fudging something (like data) to get the desired results.
I’ll bet you’re right, Karen. Thanks again for the blog post inspiration!
I loved Karen’s Word Nerds post and this one too, Julie! Yet, as much as I love words, these definitions are a very part of the reason I do NOT write historical novels. So much research, so many ways to go wrong. I’m so thankful to those of you who are willing to do the deep dives so we can just trust the research to you and enjoy reading your wonderful stories! 🙂
Thanks, Deb! Yes, there’s always a risk of making mistakes; and I do; but I try my best to get the details right.
So fun! I love discovering words used in different ways in the past or words that we’ve lost along the way!
Thanks, D’Ann! I’m guessing you’re a word nerd, too. 🙂
Thanks for the referral to the website! Should come in handy. (Although I must admit I checked out the word “siblings,” if only because it makes me crazy when it appears in historical novels set prior to the mid-20th century. Sorry. Pet peeve!)
I have taken it to heart and will do my best to avoid the word going forward!
Great post! I use the same online resource. It’s so helpful.