Joyfully Retired

Welcome to Wednesday, the day to celebrate new (to me) words.

I only found one new word this week. (It must be time to raise the bar on my reading level.) I was reading a review written by Jane at FleurFisher. It was for the book, The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland. It was all about this word: beguines.

In checking out Wikipedia, I learned that beguines were a religious movement of women. Their success, according to the Belgian historian Henri Pirenne, was due to a surplus of women occasioned by violence, war, military and semi-military operations, which took the lives of many men. Great numbers of women had no option but to unite and collectively secure the aid of rich benefactors.

The beguines were founded in the 13th century. They were different from conventional nuneries in that they were less strict and members of the beguines did not have to close themselves off completely from the rest of the world.

Can’t you just imagine all sorts of fiction that could be created around this idea? Good for Karen Maitland.

Wondrous Words Wednesday is sponsored by Kathy of Bermuda Onion’s Weblog.  To join in or to check out other’s new words, visit Kathy. What about you – have you learned any new words this week?