Part of the fun of reading An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott was encountering some of the speech and other items used over 140 years ago. Here are two that I found interesting:
1. velocipede: Tom got his velocipede the next day, named it Black Auster, in memory of the horse in “The Battle of Lake Regillus” and came to grief as soon as he began to ride his new steed.
I thought a velocipede was a horse but later that definition didn’t seem to fit the circumstances of the story. In checking I found out a velocipede was an early form of bicycle propelled by working pedals on cranks fitted to the front axle. (The picture shown here is from Wikepedia.)
2. cockered: . . . and grandma cockered him up with every delicacy she could invent; and the girls waited on him like devoted slaves.
I could find no specific definition for cockered in any of my dictionaries. I have a hunch the word refers to a pet. Cocker spaniel dogs were favorite pets during this time period and the sentence implies that grandma was treating Tom as if he were a treasured pet. (This picture came from my laptop’s dictionary.)
Wondrous Words Wednesday is sponsored by Kathy at Bermuda Onion’s Weblog. Be sure to visit Kathy, say Hi! and check out her list of new words.
If you Google cocker, the definition you get is: “treat with excessive indulgence; cosset; baby; coddle; mollycoddle; spoil; indulge” with the derivation apparently from the French word coqueliner which means to pamper. Then I checked on cocker spaniel, and the derivation of cocker in that regard is apparently held to stem from their use to hunt woodcock in England. But I like your etymology better! :–)
cockered – hmmm that is an interesting verb. Good choices today, Margot. I like the pics – thanks for including them.
I have a feeling I would break a body part that I’m fond of if I tried to ride a velocipede. I love cocker and will try to use that one today. Thanks for being such a faithful participant, Margo!
Both words new to me. I love the sound of cockered!
Cockered is an interesting word. Although if I hadn’t read it in context, I would have used it to mean something like “cosh” or “clobbered”
I should ask my son if he would like to ride the velocipede to school!!!