Wednesday 16 May 2012

Wamfling Wamflers


Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de - Woman with Clothes Blowing in the Wind - Romanticism - Mixed technique - Genre - Museum of Fine Arts - Boston, MA, USAI may simply have a thing for words that begin wam- (see this old post on wamblecropt), but I was immeasurably happy, whilst flicking through the OED the other day, to discover the verb wamfle, which is defined thus:

To go about with flapping garments. Of garments, etc., to flap, flutter (in the wind).

Wamfle's first mention is in Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language (1808), where it gets this slightly more precise definition:

To wamfle, to move like a tatterdemallion; conveying the idea of one moving about, so as to make his rags flap. Fife.

I slightly prefer the OED's one as it chimes with the neighbouring noun: wamfler, which means a beau or a gallant.

Now, if you'll excuse me, there's a good breeze up and conditions are perfect.

The fine art of wamfling whilst wamblecropt

1 comment:

  1. I read this article and immediately thought of 'The Wombles'...

    -C.B

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