Monday, May 13, 2013

Yestreen

I came across a word today that is totally new to me.

Generally, when I come across obscure/archaic words, I discover upon looking them up that they are obscure and archaic for good reason. But this is a perfectly good word and deserves to be resurrected.

The word, as you may have guessed from the title, is 'yestreen'. It is of Scottish origin and means 'last night' (yester e'en). Great word, huh?

I found it in a 1916 novel by P. G. Wodehouse, Piccadilly Jim, in a passage in which the title character is trying to remember what he had done while drunk the night before. He remarks to the butler:
“Well, it’s a funny thing, but I can’t get rid of the impression that at some point in my researches into the night life of London yestreen I fell upon some person to whom I had never been introduced and committed mayhem upon his person.”
When I type 'yestreen' in Microsoft Word, spellcheck suggests that perhaps I might mean 'eyestrain'.

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