Christmas 2015: Anglo-Norman words overview

2015 has been a turbulent year for the Anglo-Norman Dictionary, with the unfortunate illness and extremely sad passing away of our General Editor, Prof. David Trotter, last August.

Looking forward to a more positive 2016, the current AND team, Dr. Heather Pagan and Dr. Geert De Wilde, would like to wish our readers a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

(Ranworth Antiphoner, fol 22, fifteenth century)

We will be back in January with new Anglo-Norman words of the month, but in the meantime, here’s an overview of all the vocabulary we have discussed on this blog so far, in the past 2 or 3 years. There might be one or two you’d missed?

‘alphabet’/’abc’ - link

‘nick’, nock’ and ‘notch’ - link

The ‘Croes Naid’ - link

‘nuncheon’ - link

‘monoceros’ and ‘unicorn’ - link

‘havegooday’ - link

‘organe’ - link

‘noef’ and ‘novel’ - link

Anglo-Norman sweetmeats - link

‘lunage’, ‘lunetus’ and ‘lunatic’ - link

‘locust’ and ‘lobster’ - link

‘ongler’ - link

‘quyne’ the ‘evil monkey’ - link

‘herds’, ‘bevies’ and ‘sounders’ - link

‘ombre’ - link

‘outremer’ - link

‘nice’, an Anglo-Norman insult - link

Anglo-Norman chess terminology - link

‘gagging, ‘queasy’ and ‘squeamish’ - link

‘fitonesse’ -link

‘pedigree’, ‘pé de colum’ and ‘péage’ - link

‘fitchews’ and ‘mitching’ - link

‘pie’ and ‘pastry’ - link

‘penthouse’ - link

‘giggling’, ‘jigg(l)ing’ ‘gigolo’ - link

‘parker’, ‘paliser’ and ‘parchementer’, Anglo-Norman surnames - link

The Anglo-Norman horse (part 1) - link

‘predire’ and ‘prediction’ - link

The Anglo-Norman horse (part 2): horsemanship - link

‘lit’ and the Anglo-Norman bed - link

After the festive break, work will continue on the revision of P-, which we hope to publish online by the end of 2016.

[gdw/hp]

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Word of the Month: Penthouse

Some Modern English words have a linguistic history that is straightforward to follow: formally, they have a transparent etymology, and semantically, they have a sense that has more or less remained the same throughout the centuries. Many words, though, take unexpected turns: some revert to very different spellings, twist their forms, and/or acquire new connotations or even meanings. The result is that for such words the root, or etymon, may turn up in quite unexpected places. One clear example of the latter – of a word ‘hiding’ its etymological and semantic origin – turned up during the current revision of AND of words beginning with P-: penthouse . The Modern English word penthouse is defined in the OED (third edition, updated in 2005) as ‘a flat, apartment, suite of rooms, etc., occupying the top floor or floors of a tall building’, with the addition that the word usually has ‘connotations of wealth, status, etc., typically suggesting a luxuriously appointed apartment offering...

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