thole

Feb. 11th, 2015 07:51 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (words are sexy)
[personal profile] prettygoodword
thole (THOHL) - n., a pin or pair of pins inserted in a gunwale to be a fulcrum for an oar; a handle in the side of a scyth snath (shaft). v., (Scot.) to suffer, bear, endure.


Two completely different words that happen to have the same spelling. The noun forms date back to Old English þoll, same meaning, with cognates throughout old northern Germanic languages but with origin otherwise unknown (aside from a conjectured Proto-Germanic form *thulnaz). The verb also dates to Old English þolian, with a range of meanings from suffer/endure/undergo through remain/survive to lose/lack/forfeit, from PIE root *tele-, to bear/carry, with cognates via Latin that include tolerate and extol.

---L.

January 2026

S M T W T F S
     1 23
4 5 6 7 8 910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jan. 10th, 2026 01:43 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios