Heeeere comes Halloween, All Hallows' Eve, All Saints Day, Día de los Muertos, Samhain, Beltane, Calan Gaeaf... and I'm sure there are more celebratory events around October 31 and into early November. Soooo let's jump in with a word that applies perfectly to the more ghoulish side of Halloween, as expressed in costumes taken straight from popular horror films:
Ugsome.
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Yep, this is a real word, appearing in Merriam-Webster (although they do say it's "archaic"). Ugsome, meaning "frightful, loathsome," first appeared in the 15th century. A Word-A-Day gives us a little bit about its origin, as follows:
From Old Norse ugga (to fear). As in many typical stories where one child in a family becomes well-known while the other remains obscure, "ugly" and "ugsome" are two words derived from the same root -- one is an everyday word while the other remains uncommon. Earliest documented use: around 1425.
World Wide Words has an enlightening post about the word, including this bit:
In the centuries before Shakespeare, ugsome was common enough, mostly in Scotland and northern England, but then almost completely died out except in dialect. It was resurrected in the eighteenth century by writers seeking an archaic word to help set a historical scene.
I think it's time to bring ugsome back into use!
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| What do YOU find ugsome?? |
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