Derwenter

Pronounced: DUHR-wuhnt-uhr, noun

Notes: Not a word that I remember running across

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Yesterday’s word

The word frieze means

• the part of an entablature between the architrave and the cornice
• a sculptured or richly ornamental band (as on a building or piece of furniture)
• a band, line, or series suggesting a frieze

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

Well… the first definition above didn’t help me at all; I had to look up “entablature”, “architrave”, and “cornice”. An entablature is usually composed of a bottom layer (architrave), a middle later (frieze), and a top layer (cornice). In addition to that, there is another noun frieze that is a heavy, napped woolen cloth that coats are made from. Thought it is spelled the same and pronounced the same, the words came from different sources. Our word came from the Latin word frisium (embroidered cloth), which descended from phrygyium and Phrygia, the latter being an ancient country whose people excelled in metalwork, wood carving, and embroidery.