compurgation: trial in which numerous (often 12) witnesses swear to the defendant’s innocence
agate: typographical unit of approximately 5.5 points, among the smallest regularly printed
gremial: a cloth spread on a bishop’s lap during mass; or, lap-related; or, a confidant
bombazine: also -zeen, a silk or silk-wool textile often used in mourning garments
corybantic: ecstatic or frenetic, after the korybantes dancers of ancient Phrygia
flummery: sweetened gruel or pudding; or, meaningless or deceptive language
burgoo: a thick stew or porridge; or, an occasion on which one eats it
gleet: mucus or viscous bodily fluid, especially of a hawk or urethra
sillabub: dessert of thickened cream mixed with wine or juice
mammothrept: a spoiled child; literally, ‘grandmother-raised’
fearnaught: a thick woolen fabric, or garment made thereof
cicisbeo: a married woman’s lover or male companion
anfractuous: winding, circuitous, or complicated
clemmed: pinched or compressed, or starving
lamiter: a lame or otherwise disabled person
redd up: to tidy, in Pittsburgh-local dialect
roborative: fortifying, especially a drink
niello: black alloy used in decorations
threap: to scold, contradict, or blame
mumchance: silent or dumbstruck
selden: archaic form of ‘seldom’
snaffle: a jointed bit for a horse
cholagogue: a bilious purgative
kickshaw: a trifle or delicacy
pech: pant
The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform…. Its province is to assist us in making available what we are already acquainted with.
Ada Lovelace, notes on Babbage’s Analytical Engine
No Joy – “Jelly Meadow Bright”
Bugland
The cosmically bombastic closer to a short but strong album, this song contains multitudes, both sequential and simultaneous. Just when you think you know what it is, they turn the dial again and it stuns afresh. If No Joy’s next album takes after this track, it’s going to be uncategorizable. (bandcamp)
Vocabulary: So what’s the Plangents Edition
testudo: mobile shelter from arrows often formed by overlapping shields in Roman legions
titivate: to decorate or spruce up oneself or a location (poss. tidy+elevate/cultivate)
tumbrel: a two-wheeled cart infamously used to carry prisoners to the guillotine
foehn: or föhn, a warm dry wind in the lee of a mountain range, esp. the Alps
debarrass: the reverse of embarrass, to remove something causing shame
miniver: light (possibly squirrel) fur used in ceremonial robes of state
erethism: abnormal sensitivity of a body part or mind to stimulation
precisian: one who adheres closely to rules or forms; or, a puritan
plexus: a complex structure or network of parts (fr. Latin to braid)
cadaverine: a toxic, colorless chemical produced by putrefaction
pintle: a pin on which a part turns, esp. a rudder or gun carriage
pelerine: a women’s short cape with long pointed ends in front
energumen: one possessed by a devil or evil spirit; or, a zealot
kedge: a light anchor used to warp a vessel, or to use one
palter: to speak insincerely or capriciously; or, to haggle
plangent: resonant and deep, esp. mournful sounds
sistrum: a type of metal rattle used in ancient Egypt
dree: to endure; to dree weird is to endure fate
murrey: a mulburry, or the color of one
rodomontade: boasts or bluster
pantler: a servant of the pantry
bemaze: bewilder, bemuse
facinorous: highly wicked
Anna Von Hausswolf – “Pomperipossa”
The Miraculous
Having heard Von Hausswolf’s solo organ works at a bar (“It’s like church in here,” some guy told the goth bartender; my friend, the place is basically Wicca-themed, expect organ music!) I looked up her back catalogue and was very pleasantly surprised to find it intricately arranged, metal-adjacent chamber rock. Von Hausswolf clearly has a gift for composing tonal journeys, as opener “Discovery” shows, smoothly transitioning from eerie to upbeat to chaotic to mystical and ecstatic. The rest of the album sees her experimenting with arrangements and vocals to extraordinary effect, with the saturated “Pomperipossa” somehow both the shortest track and most representative. (bandcamp)
Four Japanese mysteries: Six Four, Decagon House Murders, Tokyo Zodiac Murders, and the Devotion of Suspect X
Japan has a long and rich history in the mystery genre, stretching back in particular to the inimitable Edogawa Rampo. I read a few modern classics and although they are not all hits — I was not a fan of Newcomer, for instance — these four I think deserve individual recognition and juxtaposition.
Vocabulary: Graith in the Grith of the Garth Edition
weet: also wit or wot, to know (but in the context discovered, ‘come wind or weet,’ probably wet)
perdue: a soldier sent on an especially dangerous mission (fr. French, ‘forgotten’)
gare: in water, a pier; on land, a station; in a person, greed or miserliness
electuary: medicine mixed with sugar or honey for easier consumption
garth: a courtyard, esp. within a cloister; or, a hoop for children’s play
sendal: fine silk fabric used in the middle ages, or a garment of it
grith: in old English law, sanctuary provided by church or crown
troke: also troak or truck, to barter or trade, or the items traded
corrie: a bowl-like terrain feature formed by retreating glaciers
inexpugnable: unable to be overcome or driven away by force
eft: certain terrestrial newts or developmental stages thereof
syth: also sith, sithe, etc, relatives of sithence, meaning since
graith: equipment, or to equip, or to be equipped (graithed)
thrawart: stubborn and obstinate, or twisted and distorted
umbles: also numbles, the edible organs of animals
chrysoprase: gemlike green chalcedony
trisulk: also trisulc, triple-pronged
speer: also speir, to ask or inquire
capriped: having feet like a goat’s
sike: a small stream or ditch
jimp: scant or dainty
fico: a trifle, or a fig
Four magical schools: Vita Nostra, A College of Magics, Poppy War, Red Sister
I admit it freely and without shame: I love magical schools. Hogwarts may be the best known, but it’s not the first, nor did it exhaust the theme. That said, such an institution is no guarantee of a good story. Having realized that over two years I’d read four books where a girl attends and learns the mysteries of a magical school, I thought I’d compare.
