Sunday, November 23, 2008

Word of the Week (November 23 - 28) : hag

Word of the Week Nov 23 - 28

hag

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

hag v Cp HAG n: HAG-RODE. To torment (in a nightmare).C 70-25 If you think or talk badly of someone who is dead, the dead person will hag you. The person hagged will become light headed and will talk in his sleep. The way to get him out is to slap him across the face. C 71-6 As a young girl she got hagged. That night she woke up screaming, she had felt the young man's hands around her throat but she couldn't scream or move.

hag1 n [phonetics unavailable]. Cp OED ~1 1 c obs (1632, 1696) for sense 1; OED hag-ridden 1, EDD hag sb1 2 (4) hag-ride esp Do So D Co for comb in sense 3. See D Hufford, 'A New Approach to the "Old Hag" [Nfld], 'in WAYLAND D HAND American Folk Medicine (1976), pp. 73-45.

1 The nightmare; freq in form old hag. Cp DIDDIES.
1896 J A Folklore ix, 222 A man ... told me he had been ridden to death by an old hag, until a knowledgeable old man advised him to drive nails through a shingle, and lash it to his breast when he went to bed.

[1929] BURKE [6] "No Short Skirts": For her skirts are so tight round the hips, Jennie, / It's no wonder she got the old hag.

1924 ENGLAND 216 A sufferer from nightmare is supposed to be ridden by something called 'the old hag,' and the only way to free him from torment is to call his name backward.

1937 Bk of Nfld i, 230 Nightmare is called by fishermen the 'Old Hag.' T 222-66 Well, by this time it would be bedtime, and perhaps after such an exciting day you would probably have bad dreams; in fact you might have the old hag, or a nightmare. C 69-22 He often gets the hag. Usually he is dreaming that someone is chasing him [or] he may be falling from somewhere. C 70-23 If you sleep on your back you'll have hags.

1975 Evening Telegram 20 Dec, p. 3 Christmas for many has moved beyond the yearly sufferable nightmare to the realm of that particularly exquisite nocturnal terror called, in Newfoundland,'The Old Hag.'

2 Part of inner organs of a lobster, discarded in eating (P 127-73); OLD WOMAN.

3 Comb hag-rode: (a) troubled by nightmare; (b) bewitched (see P 51-67 quot).P 213-55 Hagorid: [afflicted by] a nightmare, especially one in which the victim feels someone sitting on his chest. P 51-67 When he couldn't catch any fish, he said he was hagrode. C 67-10 ~ [Hagrode is when] she awakes in a sweat and feels pinned to the bed by some unseen force.hag1 n DBE ~ 2 for sense 1.

1 [1886] 1910 HOWLEY MS Reminiscences 23 'Oh' said he, 'Cole has got the Old Hag Sir, thats all.' ... He tried to call out but could not, but just as they were giving him the third and last swing [over the cliff] he made one desperate effort to screech.

1985 A Yaffle of Yarns 94 She frequently announced...that she had had the 'old hag' the night before and described the symptoms in great detail.

1985 JOHNSTON 66 The air itself was black and thick and wrapped like arms around me. The hag, to those who have not known her, cannot be described.

3 Comb, cpd ~ rode, ~ wind: a gale at sea.

1981 SPARKES 166 A person having a nightmare was said to be hagrode.

1977 MOAKLER 22 So blew the hag winds till a mauzy dawn/That left the Banks as peaceful as a bawn. P 308-88 'That's no way to call a man when he is egg rod.

Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT!

The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

N.B. Any Word of the Week receiving more than 10 posts will trigger a prize from Rattling Books for our favourite.

We also invite you to visit our sister facebook group.

The word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Word of the Week Nov 16 - 22: hare's-ears, hazures

Word of the Week Nov 16 - 22

hare's-ears, hazures

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

hare's-ears, hazures: a pair of pointed rocks protruding above the surface of the water; twin peaks (of a hill).

[1773] 1971 SEARY 224 Two rocks, known as Hare's Ears, 40 feet high, lie close eastward of [Branch] head.

1909 Nfld Qtly Mar, p. 3 Now at our Ferryland, we have an excellent specimen of a Forillon, in the well known rock called The Hazures.

1951 Nfld & Lab Pilot i, 159 Two smaller peaks, about 350 feet high, in the southern part of the island are known as Hare's ears. Q 67-84 Hasures [is the name given to] a rock split in the middle looking like hare's ears.

1971 SEARY 87 Hare's Ears ... is a descriptive which occurs in at least seven localities in Newfoundland to describe two steep, adjacent, pinnacle-like rocks, standing offshore.

Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT! The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

N.B. Any Word of the Week receiving more than 10 posts will trigger a prize from Rattling Books for our favourite.

We invite you to visit our sister facebook group.

The word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Calavance sighting: Mediterranean Vegetables by Clifford A. Wright

The following entry for calavance (our word of the week from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English) appears in a book about mediterranean vegetables by Clifford A. Wright:

Calavance
Dolichos barbadensis and D. sinensis etc.
(Leguminosae)

Calavance is the name given to several varieties of pulse in the Dolichos genus, a genus that includes the hyacinth bean. it is not known how the word calavance entered the English language. Athenaeus relates that the Spartans could serve green calavances, beans and dried figs at kopides, feasts given for strangers. Today this vegetable is eaten by Bedouin and Berber tribes in North Africa.

Mediterranean Vegetables: A Cook's ABC of Vegetables and Their Preparation in Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, and North Africa with More Than 200 Authentic Recipes for the Home Cook
By Clifford A. Wright
Published by Harvard Common Press, 2001
ISBN 1558321969, 9781558321960
416 pages

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Sunday, November 9, 2008

November 2 - 8 Word of the Week : calavance n also callivance, cavalance

November 2 - 8 Word of the Week

calavance n also callivance, cavalance

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

calavance n also callivance, cavalance OED ~ obs (1620-1880); DAE (1682-); DJE sb (1634-1794). Type of small bean used esp for soup (Dolichos barbadensis, D. sinensis).

1895 J A Folklore viii, 38 Callivances: a species of white bean ... in contrast with the broad English bean.

[c1904] 1927 DOYLE (ed) 67 "The Kelligrews Soiree": There was birch rhine, tar twine, / Cherry wine and turpentine; / Jowls and cavalances. P 245-61 ~ small bean.

Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT! The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

N.B. Any Word of the Week receiving more than 10 posts will trigger a prize from Rattling Books for our favourite.

We also invite you to visit our sister facebook group.

The word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

November 2 - 8 Word of the Week : scurrifunge n

November 2 - 8 Word of the Week

scurrifunge n

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

scurrifunge* v [phonetics unavailable].. Cp EDD ~ v 'to lash tightly, coïre'; fung v 3 'to do anything briskly ... to work or walk hurriedly' Sc, Ki1kenny Lexicon scurryfunge 'to scrounge, cadge or wheedle.'

1 To clean thoroughly, scour (P 108-70). P 272-57 ~ as to clean out a dirty sink.

2 To scold, reprove. P 108-79 To scurravunge someone,

Now, we invite you to RELiVE, REMEMBER and REFRESH iT and/or even REDEFiNE iT! The main thing is to RELiSH iT.

N.B. Any Word of the Week receiving more than 10 posts will trigger a prize from Rattling Books for our favourite.

We also invite you to visit our sister facebook group. The word of the week is released each Sunday morning on the Newfoundland and Labrador CBC Radio program Weekend Arts Magazine with host Angela Antle.