2012-12-04T13:46:59+00:00

I just want to say how facinated I was to find your site. I started reading Titus Groan in 1971 and immediately I was impressed by the words; not just the words. I found I started to get favourate words like purblind, and equipoise. This seemed to fit with the characters; Opus Fluke, Flannel Cat. I thought It was just me that found Mervin Peake outstanding in his vocabulary as well as his imagination

Cheers John

2011-11-20T17:54:50+00:00

Felicity: I, too, learned several new words from Peake…and a few that did not previously exist! You may be interested in this page by the leading Peake editor and scholar, which includes a fascinating section on “Strange Words in Titus Groan”: http://www.peakestudies.com/MervynPeakeFAQ.htm

2011-08-25T09:58:33+00:00

dace
1. dace, Leuciscus leuciscus — (small European freshwater fish with a slender bluish-green body)

arras
1. tapestry, arras — (a wall hanging of heavy handwoven fabric with pictorial designs)

defile
1. defile, gorge — (a narrow pass (especially one between mountains))

welkin
1. celestial sphere, sphere, empyrean, firmament, heavens, vault of heaven, welkin — (the apparent surface of the imaginary sphere on which celestial bodies appear to be projected)

leprous
1. leprous — (relating to or resembling or having leprosy)

liana
1. liana — (a woody climbing usually tropical plant)

comber
2. comber — (a long curling sea wave)

festoons
2. festoon — (an embellishment consisting of a decorative representation of a string of flowers suspended between two points; used on pottery or in architectural work)

caul
2. caul, veil, embryonic membrane — (the inner membrane of embryos in higher vertebrates (especially when covering the head at birth))

canalized
2. channel, canalize, canalise — (direct the flow of; “channel information towards a broad audience”)

swart
1. (1) dark-skinned, dusky, swart, swarthy — (naturally having skin of a dark color; “a dark-skinned beauty”; “gold earrings gleamed against her dusky cheeks”; “a smile on his swarthy face”; “`swart’ is archaic”)

susurrous
1. murmurous, rustling, soughing, susurrous - (characterized by soft sounds; “a murmurous brook”; “a soughing wind in the pines”; “a slow sad susurrous rustle like the wind fingering the pines” R.P.Warren)

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