DIRECTORY OF BEAUTIFUL WORDS
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DIRECTORY OF OBSCURITY
​The Old, Rare & Unusual
OBSCURE | WEIRD | OBSOLETE
Obscurity WordMap

WORD LISTS SPECIAL FEATURES ​WORDS FROM OTHER CATEGORIES ​ARTICLES FROM THE REFERENCE CORNER Learn about weird and wacky words

WEIRD AND WACKY WORDS
strange and bizarre old and rare words
OBSCURITY OF THE NORM
obscure words for everyday things

BRINGING BACK
the old, rare & archaic​OBSOLETE WORDS

DIRECTORY OF WORD LISTS
SEE ALSO FROM THE REFERENCE CENTER:
​Death March for an Obsolete Word
Classifying Words by Usage - New to Obsolete
​Ye Olde Fossils Keep On Kicking
​Tracing the Etymology of a Word

SCENT OF A LADY
From Long Ago


From Dame to Old Maid

Dame was a word coined in the 13th century from the Old French “dame”, meaning “wife / mistress”, which in turn came from the Latin “domina”, meaning “mistress of the house, lady”. “Domina” has its origins in the same Latin word that “domestic” ultimately came from, namely “domus”, meaning “house”. Dame was synonymous with “female ruler” (today “Dame” is considered the female equivalent of “Sir”, as in knighthood). Originally a knight’s wife was given the title of “Dame”, but changed to “Lady” a few centuries later. By the 14th century, “dame” extended to also being sometimes used generically as a title for a housewife.

Single women, once called spinsters, eventually started being called old maids. In 17th-century New England, they were known as “thornbacks” – a sea skate covered with thorny spines – used to describe single women older than 25. Before the 17th century, women who weren’t married were called maids, virgins or “puella,” the Latin word for “girl.” The words stood for youth and chastity, and it was presumed women would only be single for a small portion of their life.

Old maid was common and it implied a paradox of being older and yet virginal. The era’s literature also humorously used “superannuated virgins.”
Of course both were critically received. An anonymously penned 1713 pamphlet referred to the never-married as odious, impure and repugnant. As if that were not enough, the words carried a threat of punishment for not marrying by “leading apes in hell.” Feminism was a word not yet coined and the doomed ladies would ever know the word suffrage.

OLD FASHIONED WORDS FOR WOMEN
(prepare to be offended for these ladies - but keep going. It gets better)

AISLING - a vision or a dream; an Irish poetic genre where Ireland appears to the poet in the form of a beautiful woman.

BELDAM - an old woman

BLUSTOCKING - a woman with considerable literary, scholarly or intellectual ability or interest.

BOOKWOMAN - this word has had two meanings. A bookwoman (or a bookman) is someone who loves to read, but a bookwoman can also be a female writer. Many similar sexist terms used to be common, such as ‘authoress’ (a broader term than ‘murdermongress’, a word Ogden Nash used to describe Agatha Christie) and ‘sob sister’ (an advice columnist for the lovelorn, like Lois Lane’s first job in the original Superman comics).

CALIFORNIA WIDOW - A married woman whose husband is away from her for any extended period

CICISBEOV - a married woman’s male companion or lover

COQUETTE - a woman who flirts lightly, coquette carries much more positive connotations than often used counterparts like “tease,” “harlot,” and “strumpet.” Not to mention, a tufted coquette is also an awesome hummingbird that flaunts orange and green feathers.

ENCEINTE - a woman who is pregnant

FIZGIG - a silly or flirtatious young woman

FLAMFOO - a woman who wears gaudy outfits but thinks she is fashionable

GAMMER - an old woman

GAMMERSTANG - a tall, awkward woman.

GAWZER - a beautiful girl or young woman -

HOYDEN - a carefree girl

INGÉNUE - naïve young woman.

JADE - a bad-tempered or disreputable woman

MAVOURNEEN - the woman you call darling or dear

MINERVA - a woman of great wisdom

MYFFIN-WALLOPERS - in Victorian slang, muffin-wallopers were old unmarried or widowed women who would meet up to gossip over tea and cakes.

MULIEBRITY - all woman

PANTHERESS - fierce or cruel but beautiful woman -

PEG PUFF - a young woman with the manners of an old one

PYTHONESS - woman believed to be possessed by a spirit and to be able to foresee the future

SCOLD - woman who nags or grumbles constantly

SLACKUMTRANCE - slovenly dirty woman.

SNOUTFAIR - an attractive woman. Comes from the 1500s.

SPLATHERDAB - a woman who goes about dispensing juicy bits of gossip

VESPINE - woman who doesn’t meddle in anyone’s business and hates it when anyone meddles in hers.

VICAMBULIST - specifically a ‘night foundered vicambulist’ means a ‘street-walker who has got lost in the darkness’. It doesn’t specify if street walker means prostitute or just a woman walking around the street

WONDER-WENCH - a sweetheart

WRITRIX - a milestone in sexism was the rare word writrix, which can be found in an astounding 1772 sentence written by José Francisco de Isla and recorded by the Oxford English dictionary - “Why should it not be said, she was not a common woman, but a geniusess, and an elegant writrix?

XANTHIPPE - an ill-tempered woman.

NO MORE OF THAT!!!

Let’s close this with words defining YOU. Thank you to the women who paved the way for us. We are now paving the way for our daughters with the same fire, passion and grit and we are getting shit done.

AMBITCHOUS - striving to be more of a bitch than the average bitch.

FLAWSOME - while embracing her flaws, she kicks ass knowing she is awesome just the way she is.

GIBIGIANNA - a woman who masters the art of charm, grace and elegance.

GLOW-GETTER - a driven busy gal who slays her goals while she glows

QUAINTRELLE - a woman with fiery passion who has cultivated a brilliant style that makes her stand out.

RACONTEUSE - a brilliantly skilled female storyteller

VIRAGO - a strong, brave warrior who demonstrates exemplary and heroic qualities

VENATRIX - a female huntress

VESPINE - a woman who does not meddle in others’ affairs and expects nobody meddle in hers.

The Old, Rare & Unusual
OBSCURE | WEIRD | OBSOLETE
Obscurity WordMap

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