1. balestra (also ballestra) — [fencing] leap towards opponent with an immediate lunge
Dimitrios closed the distance with a balestra feint to the sword arm shoulder, followed by an imbroccata to the chest, and Gregorio was hard-pressed to keep the Greek from ending the fight then and there.
2. pediophobia — fear of dolls
In this Hans Bellmer nightmare workshop, Florence was glad she was only menaced by a madman, and not also hampered by pediophobia.
3. stale — to urinate, esp. of horses or cattle
“I drank so much I could stale like a horse!”
4. bord — coalface leading into the seam; roadway in mine through which coal is extracted
In traditional bord and pillar mining, after most of the coal has been removed, the remaining pillars of the seam are removed in reverse order, working back to the mine entrance, so depillaring safely is vital.
5. scaphism — ancient Persian method of execution, possibly specious, in which the victim is bound between two small boats with his head and limbs remaining outside and then he is force-fed milk and honey until bloated and the remaining mixture slathered upon his exposed body parts, then left facing the sun whilst insects or other animals devour him alive
It is not only the wasps and bees and flies which torment the victim of scaphism, however, as the days-long torture creates sundry worms and other vile creatures amid the sufferer’s own egesta, and as he lies in his own filth with his horribly distended stomach, he has all too much time to contemplate his sad fate as he is devoured from without and within, dying a death of thousands of tiny gnawing bites.
6. hyperacusis — hypersensitivity to sound, esp. loud noises
Hyperacusis in veterans with PTSD is not uncommon, requiring delicate treatment, and this condition can be aggravated greatly if tinnitus is also present.
7. corrody (also corody) — lifetime pension of care given by religious house to maintain grantee
Of course there were many and varied types of corrodies throughout the Middle Ages, from benevolent bequests upon stalwart laymen who had worked all their lives at an abbey to grants forced upon a monastery by the king, but in all cases this lifetime allowance functioned as an early version of a pension, a nascent form of social insurance for the weak and elderly in a society dominated by the strong and the young.
8. little-go (also little go) — [British] preliminary examination during university courses to determine fitness to continue studies
By the end of Victoria’s reign, however, there were already concerns that requiring knowledge of two dead languages for the little-go did not prepare the future graduates of Cambridge for the changing world.
9. logothete (often capitalized) — administrative executive in Byzantine empire or its successor states
All negotiations between the Porte and the Patriarch had to pass through the logothete, who held his office through hereditary custom and knew quite well the value of his role as an intermediary.
10. merchet — feudal fine paid to lord upon a daughter’s marriage
Analysis of the Liber Gersumarum discounts the idea that most women who paid their own merchets were widows seeking to remarry.
Bonus Vocabulary
(religious symbol)
Faravahar — preeminent symbol of Zoroastrianism, consisting of the upper body of a Persian man in a circle from which project wings and tail feathers and streamers; same symbol used generally for Persia or Iran
Of course, the appearance of the Faravahar on the Behistun Inscription may simply indicate the personal religious preference of Darius, but may also speak to the great king’s desire to impose a single religion upon his widespread peoples.