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stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jan 2001
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I'm rereading Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" these days, and I came across two words very near each other that I've never seen (ever!) in any other context.
I looked them up of course...a 'hythe' is described simply as 'a haven,' and 'fosse' seems to be an exact synonym of 'moat.'
Is this a mysterious hole in my vocabulary? Are these words in common use in other, maybe specialized, areas? And how are they pronounced...I presume 'hythe' rhymes with 'writhe' and 'lithe,' but does 'fosse,' along with the famous choreographer, rhyme with 'bossy?'
Puzzled in Maryland....
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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In Kent this was spelled foss ‘when I were a lad’. and meant ditch or even a “hole in the ground”. This is what I think is an accurate representation of the pronunciation. I will leave BelM to describe a fosse septique – I remember my father installing one in France, hence know this connection! I would be pretty sure that hythe is a word of Old English extraction – seem to vaguely remember coming across something about this in connection to Alfred’s time. The only version I actually know about is the wonderful little steam railway I used to adore as a kid: http://www.nlewis.freeserve.co.uk/rlyromney.html
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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fosse is also spelled foss (also meaning ditch), which gives you the orthoepy. it's used mostly these days in historical or archeological contexts. another earlier sense was 'cart-rut', which has come up here before.
1969 C. Cochrane Lost Roads of Wessex i. 14 No Roman way has been listed as located between Salisbury and the southern part of the Fosse [One of the four great Roman roads in Britain, so called from the ditch or fosse on each side; it probably ran from Axminster to Lincoln, via Bath and Leicester]. Ibid. vi. 119 For a short distance the Roman quarrystone paving of the Foss was intact. [Cochrane was taking no chances with the spelling!]
hithe/hythe - A port or haven; esp. a small haven or landing-place on a river. Now obsolete except in historical use, and in place-names, as Hythe, Rotherhithe, Lambeth (orig. Lamb-hithe), Hythe Bridge at Oxford, Bablock Hithe on the Thames above Oxford.
[OED]
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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esp. a small haven or landing-place on a river
Yes, that brings it back - it was in connection to Alfred taking London, in which he fortified the old Roman site of what is now the Tower of London. Is there any etymology or citation, tsuwm?
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