Fossil words (meaning, quote)

[bjh]

^
I'd never heard of that one before, but looked it up on Wikipedia.

I suppose hear ye, hear ye would be too English.

[bjh]

Casement window - a window attached to the frame with hinges, as opposed to the newer and now more common sash windows.

[Fred314X]

Horsepower is well on the way to becoming a fossil word, too.

[artemis agrotera]

betrothed

[bjh]

Wrought iron, wrought is an early form of the word work. Wrought iron has been worked by a blacksmith. (Btw a tin smith was called a whitesmith, as odd as that sounds now. )

In the word work, o and r must have flipped, there's a word for when that happens, from wro to wor.

Those old -ght words actually were fully pronounced at one time. Word or syllable final -g and -k sometimes interchange.

This is all not to be confused with overwrought iron. That's iron that Sorry.

[Fred314X]

Originally Posted by bjh

Wrought iron, wrought...

And, similarly, the suffix -wright to describe the worker. You don't hear much about, say, barrel-wrights any more.

[Tantalust]

scrivener

[Fred314X]

Sawyer (using the same form as lawyer).

[bjh]

Originally Posted by Fred314X

And, similarly, the suffix -wright to describe the worker. You don't hear much about, say, barrel-wrights any more.

Yes, good point. Wheelwright, housewright, shipwright, etc.

[bjh]

Originally Posted by Tantalust

scrivener

Due almost entirely to Melville's Bartleby.

"I prefer not."