Word Up

[venta]

Today's word is the rather splendid eargh.

According to the calendar, it means:

"Superstitiously afraid. This is the word of which eerie is a later form."

Now, we'll skip over the small problem that, as far as I'm aware, eerie means more "superstitiously scary" than afraid. Eargh! Any word which can be mistaken for the noise you make when treading barefoot on an upturned three pin plug gets my vote.

Remember kids, three times in conversation and once in your LJ.

Comments

[wimble.livejournal.com]

Hooray! Brookes as an OED subscription:

1. Fearful, timid. In mod. use, expressing the notion of a vague superstitious uneasiness.

a1300 Cursor M. 17685 (Gött.) Ioseph be noght eri.

So the first reference to something that becomes "eerie" is about 1300, and is "eri". There's no occurance of "Eargh" in the OED. I suspect your calender is lying.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I suspect your calender is lying.

Oy, my calendar cites its references! Your[*] poxy dictionary just doesn't include 'em.

eargh is referenced in Walter Skeat's "A Student's Pastime", 1896

[*] Yes, I know, it's not yours anymore.

[maviscruet.livejournal.com]

I've allready used it once in my LJ as I was struck by the word as well.

But if it's a basically an early form of eerie then surely it's not a forgotten word, it's a changed word.....

[wimble.livejournal.com]

Ah, well in that case, you should slap it off to the usual address (We're very sorry, but any words you submit cannot be returned to you).