Curglaff
March 25, 2006
Which it is another forgotten English word, meaning the shock felt in bathing when one first plunges into cold water. -John Jamieson’s Etymological Scottish Dictionary, 1808.
From my Forgotten English Calendar I also learned that St. Cuthbert was a seventh-century monk who became a patron of sailors, a status that may have been due to his renowned mastery of adverse conditions. Presumably, Cuthbert, who liked to pray while floating nude in nearly frozen water, experienced his fair share of curglaffs.
Dave, hoping for a curglaff-free fishing season.
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Thanks for the new word! I collect them, you know, and have to continually resist the urge to puzzle readers by using them!
If you don’t use them, why collect them? I wonder just how seldom used words get stored in the brain and what triggers their recall.