flitch

[prettygoodword]

flitch (FLICH) - n., a cured and salted side of a hog (or, formerly, other animals), a side of bacon; a steak cut from a fish esp. a hallibut; a strip or beam cut lengthways from a log, esp. either a thin piece of wood used as veneer or one of several planks secured to form a laminate beam.


Also as a verb, to cut into flitches or to assemble into a laminate construction. The animal sense came first, going back to Old English flicca and Germanic roots -- despite appearances, apparently not related to flesh, as in all root forms that word always has the -s- sound (usually as flesk or similar).

---L.

Comments

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

See also fletch

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

Could you say more? I am puzzled.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

Fletching is splitting feathers and gluing them to the shaft of an arrow to stabilize the arrow in flight. Clearly related both conceptually and linguistically, an alternate form.

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

Thanks for clarifying. I'm aware of the standard definition but don't follow the connection you suggest. Usually "fletch" is considered an alt form of "fledge," and "fledge" is closely related to the older English forms of the verb "to fly" (cf. modern English "flight" and, more usefully for phonics, modern German "fliegen"). Sometimes connotations converge....

[med_cat]

Interesting, thanks!