Friday, January 9, 2009

Fun New (Old) Words

My wonderful husband bought me a great gift for Christmas -- the Forgotten English page-a-day calendar.

It's filled with old words which have fallen out of usage. And, in honor of my love of both language and the past, I'm going to share some of them with you, off and on.

My current favorite, which I must use in a novel -- chamberer. This would denote pretty much what you'd probably guess: "a frequenter of ladies' chambers; a gallant; one who indulges in wantonness; a concubine". And also some you might not: "a woman who attends a bedchamber; a chambermaid; an effeminate man; a carpet-knight".

Personally, I can't wait to find out what "carpet-knight" means, aside from chamberer. It sounds more exotic than a mere chamberer, as if a carpet-knight were a brave man who protected all floor coverings from shoes and pets. I'm tempted to make a "cut a rug" joke here, but will refrain, in case carpet-knight turns out to mean merely someone who sleeps on the floor.

J.M. Grant

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2 Comments:

Anonymous WKEverhart said...

A carpet knight. Very cool. How much do you think he'd charge to clean three rooms?:D

January 11, 2009 at 7:26 AM  
Anonymous WKEverhart said...

I was just thinking. (I know. It's awfully hard on me.) Wouldn't The Carpet Knight be a wonderful name for a cleaning business?:D

January 13, 2009 at 7:44 PM  

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