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Aug 25, 2025
This week’s themeToponyms This week’s words 
Cover: Ivy Books Previous week’s theme A cat-alogue of words 
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu GargTravel close to the ground and you’ll find people who may look different, speak differently, or eat food spicier than you can handle, but whose hopes are the same: to live without fear, to love their families, to watch their children grow and thrive. Travel like a local, not like a tourist, and you’ll meet people not just as employees in hotels or restaurants, but as humans with stories, quirks, and in-laws of their own. This week we’ll take you on a linguistic journey of toponyms. These are words coined after place names, from Greek topo- (place) + -nym (name). Think of them as little linguistic souvenirs from places real and fictional. No visa required, no jetlag necessary. Smithfield bargain
PRONUNCIATION:
(SMITH-feeld bar-guhn)
MEANING:
noun 1. A bargain in which the buyer is taken advantage of. 2. A marriage of convenience, especially for money. ETYMOLOGY:
After Smithfield, London, the site of the famous Bartholomew Fair
(1133-1855). Earliest documented use: 1664.
NOTES:
Smithfield, London, once hosted the Bartholomew Fair, where bargains
were struck, ale was drunk, and unsuspecting buyers were taken advantage of.
The term also wandered into matrimony: a Smithfield bargain could be a
marriage where love took a back seat to land, titles, or dowry. Think less
Romeo and Juliet, more of a Merger and Acquisition.) As one can imagine, there are multiple romance novels with the title Smithfield Bargain, for example, this and this. This one though, appropriately enough, is listed under the category “Job, Career, & Business”. See also, piepowder. USAGE:
“No, and I don’t like Smithfield bargains either, which is what I’ve a
shrewd notion I got when I hired her.” Georgette Heyer; A Civil Contract; William Heinemann; 1961. “But I promise you, she’s a Smithfield bargain: she’ll bring you property with a rent-charge of ten thousand. You’ll be famously rich.” Charles Palliser; The Quincunx; Canongate; 1989. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
We are all poets or babies in the middle of the night, struggling with
being. -Martin Amis, novelist (25 Aug 1949-2023)
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