A.Word.A.Day --deasil

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Feb 26, 2018

This week’s theme
Adverbs

This week’s words
deasil
tantivy
fain
piecemeal
widdershins

Photo: groucho

Previous week’s theme
Miscellaneous words

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

Last year when I was in India, I took a Jet Airways flight. The courteous and efficient flight attendant who served me wore a name tag that said “Frankly”. I asked her if it was her real name. She said it was. I wondered if there was a story behind the name. She said, “No, there’s no story. My father wanted to name me this, so he did.”

Well, it’s not very often that I meet people who are named for adverbs, but you have to admit there’s a certain charm to the name. If you wanted to name your future child after an adverb, there is Literally, and there’s Verily, and dozens of other -ly adverbs.

If you have an only child, you could name him or her Only (one + -ly). But adverbs come in lots of flavors; not all of them end in -ly. This week we’ll see some Non-ly adverbs.

deasil

PRONUNCIATION:

(DEE-zuhl)

MEANING:

adverb: In a clockwise direction.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Scottish Gaelic deiseil (righthandwise), from Middle Irish dessel, from Old Irish dess (right, south) + sel (turn). Earliest documented use: 1771.

USAGE:

“The Celts favoured deasil, or sunwise, as a direction.”
Caitlin Matthews; The Celtic Tradition; Element Books; 1989.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The first symptom of love in a young man is timidity; in a girl boldness. -Victor Hugo, poet, novelist and dramatist (26 Feb 1802-1885)

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