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Loom means a utensil. (Anglo-Saxon, loma). Thus “heir-loom” means a personal chattel or household
implement which goes by special custom to the heir. The word was in familiar use in Prior's time
(1664-1721), for he says “a thousand maidens ply the purple loom.”
I never thought of "heir-loom" before. But what on earth is a "purple loom"?
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Lucus a non Lucendo An etymological contradiction. The Latin word lucus means
a “dark grove,” but is said to be derived from the verb luce o, to shine. Similarly
our word black (the Anglo-Saxon blaec) is derived from the verb blaec-an, to
bleach or whiten.
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Luff The weather-gauge. The part of a vessel towards the wind. A sailing close to the wind. (Dutch, loef,
a weather-gauge.)
To luff is to turn the head of a ship towards the wind.
Luff!- i.e. Put the tiller on the leeside. This is done to make the ship sail nearer the wind.
Luff round! Throw the ship's head right into the wind.
Luff a-lee! Same as luff round.
A ship is said to spring her luff when she yields to the helm by sailing nearer the wind.
Keep the luff. The wind side.
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Thanks Bill. Beautiful stuff. I had actually read some of Robert Louis Stevenson's stories before ( Treasure Island & Kidnapped), but have never heard him referenced by anything except his full name, so your reference threw me  I'll enjoy exploring his poetry further.
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Lutetia Mud-hovels; the ancient name of Paris. The Romans call it Lutetia Parisiorum,
the mud-town of the Parisii. The former word being dropped, has left the present name Paris.
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my sibling and i were expected to sing or other wise perform for our suppers on holidays..Brilliant, Helen! Have to start doing that with my kids. several full color platesI always loved that term. "Plates" tended to be very high quality illustrations, though, didn't they? On glossy paper, often with a protective sheet of tissue-like paper over the top. In a new book you would actually need to peel that sheet away. I expect original copies of books like that would be worth a fortune now. Thanks for the references - I'll check out Amazon (recently visited for Just So Stories and Aesop's Fables  ) and/or second-hand bookshops.. Found a picture of Apollo & Daphne, not brilliant, but may be helpful for passers-by: http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/edafne.htmTalking fondly-remembered children's books, anyone out there also get pangs for Hilda Boswell's Treasury Of Poetry ?
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Lydford Law is, punish first and try afterwards. Lydford, in the county of Devon, was a fortified town, in which was an ancient castle, where were held the courts of the Duchy of Cornwall. Offenders against the stannary laws were confined before trial in a dungeon so loathsome and dreary that it gave rise to the proverb referred to. The castle was destroyed by the Danes "Stannery" sounds related to Stannum = tin. I wonder wha those laws could have been. Very interesting URL about tin: http://www.chycor.co.uk/tourism/tolgus/page2.htm
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Lynch-pin (Anglo-Saxon, lynis, an axle) A pin that held wagon wheel on axle. Very important,
so as figure of speech, a politician vital to maintaining party unity may be called the party's
linchpin
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M This letter represents the wavy appearance of water, and is called in Hebrew mem (water).
It is gems like this that make it worth the troulble of going through this long book,
which has so much crap in it.
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i read recently somewhere, that the hebrew alphabet was filled with such mnemonic divices.. aleph, is ? but beta is shaped like a door (and the hebrew word for door starts with a b, and gamel, is associated with camel (the shape, the sound.. ?) i don't know the hebrew alphabet.
just as S is sinuous, and snake like.. and snake starts with the letter S.. i don't remember learning or using mnemonics for the alphabet, (i did, and do for other things) but i have come across the idea more then once.
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