ashlar

[prettygoodword]

ashlar (ASH-ler) - n., a square-cut building stone; such stones collectively; masonry made with such stones; a thin, dressed rectangle of stone for facing walls; (carpentry) a short stud between joists and sloping rafters, especially near the eaves. v., to face (a wall) with ashlars.


In use since the 14th century, earlier spelling ascheler, from Middle French aisselier, crossbeam (the stone sense is unique to English), from aissele, board, diminutive of ais, plank, from Latin Latin assis/axis, board/plank (presumably not the same axis as in an axle?).

---L.

Comments

Re: possibly tl;dr

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

I met it in Kipling (http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poems_ashlar.htm), and was confused myself, but that's from a collection most teens don't read.

Okay, I suppose in context it'd be clear whether that Roman carpenter you're talking with meant a board or an axle. Still, a little startling.

Re: possibly tl;dr

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

I think my sighting was in a SF novel. I ran from poetry as a teen. :/

Agreed. I mean, it's clear in OE heroic verse that shoulders were very important at times as metaphors for being within arm's length of the seat of power (trusted person x stands at y's shoulder), for being a protector, a structural support piece--all of the literal and figurative senses. (Beowulf seems almost to parody this with its on-the-nose uses.) That one type of wooden piece is big and one small probably helped, as you say.