Wondrous Words #190
Wondrous Words Wednesday is a fun meme I love to play each week. It keeps me looking for new words wherever I’m reading. I just finished reading The Midwife’s Apprendice by Karen Cushman. I should have my review done by tomorrow. I found some interesting new words while reading this story set in Medieval England. Here’s what I found:
1. wimple: “Beetle knew this was an important journey, for the midwife soaked herself in the millpond, dried her hair in the sun, and sharpened the pleats in her best wimple.”
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2. paternosters: “Robert and Thomas and the priest, whispering paternosters, followed the prints all the way to the mill where, crossing themselves, they unlatched the door.”
Paternosters are chanted prayers such as the Lord’s Prayer.
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3., 4 and 5. rebecs, gitterns, and bsackbuts: “Musicians with their rebecs and gitterns and sackbuts came to drink and stayed to play.
From the context of the sentence I figured these three terms were some kind of musical instruments. Here’s what I found:
A rebec is a medieval stringd instrument, played with a bow. Reminds me of our violins.
A gittern is a lutelike medieval stringed instrument, forerunner of the guitar.
A sackbut is an early form of trombone used in Renaissance music.
Wondrous Word Wednesday is sponsored by Kathy @ Bermuda Onion’s Weblog.