flapdoodle

Pronounced: FLAP-doo-dull, noun

Notes: You can probably guess this word, but I couldn’t admit that I knew it, so it’s been added

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Yesterday’s word

The word Beltane is the Celtic May Day festival

Background

This word has been spelled “beltene”, “belltaine”, and “beltine”: it’s earliest mention was in an old Irish dictionary, attributed to Cormac, a king a bishop. Per my notes, the ancient Celts, this was a critical time when the boundaries between the human and supernatural worlds blurred and people took special measures to protect themselves against enchantments. There is a Beltane fire festival that derives from a spring ritual in which cattle were herded between two bonfires to protect them against evil and disease.

First usage

This word goes back to around the year 1000.