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Monday, 14 June 2021

Sopt the Frippet: something vernicose.

 Leaves can be vernicose.

No, not vermicose, which would presumably imply they'd been chewed at by worms; vernicose.

These leaves are an example:

Angelica pachicarpa. Photo by Devra

Vernicose means shiny.

Petals can be vernicose, too:

buttercups. Photo by Carine06

and so can the bark of trees:

Yellow birch bark. Photo by Joseph O'Brien


But the botanical word vernicose can describe anything very shiny. Poets sometimes have used the word to describe other very shiny things, too. 

So today is a day to look out for gloriously shining hair, or a richly polished table. Or a ladybird.

What can you see now that's shining?

Spot the Frippet: something vernicose. This word is basically the same word as varnish. The Old English form of that word is vernisch, and it goes back to the Latin veronix and to the Greek berenikē. Some say that this word is named after the town Berenice, where varnish derived from pine tree sap is first said to have been made. But most people who have an opinion about this disagree. 


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