Spot the Frippet: springer.

You've probably heard of a springer spaniel: 


Photo by Udo Tjalsma (Isn't he beautiful?)


but how about the sort of springer also known as a springing cow?


Illustration by William Wallace Denslow

No, no, all right, the springing cow sort of a springer doesn't really jump over the moon: it's actually a cow that's about to give birth.

Even if you're living in a city - or indeed, in Autumn - then there are springers to be seen.

Here's a fancy once from Silvacane Abbey in Provence:




See? That sort of a springer is the first and lowest stone in the curvy bit of an arch.

Of course, if you greeted this Monday morning by leaping singing out of your bed then you yourself are springer.

But it's not likely, is it.

Spot the Frippet: springer. This word has been around since the 1200s. The Old English springan meant to spring, and there's a Sanskrit word sprhayati, he desires.