poetry - Felicia Davin

Felicia Davin

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poetry

A collection of 5 posts

a sloped cobblestone alley with red brick buildings

Corcas

etymological mysteries and romance novels

Shedding some light

TORCH, n., FLASHLIGHT, n. I recently had to look up, for novel research, when handheld battery-powered lights were invented (1899). Wikipedia revealed why US and Canadian English speakers call these things “flashlights” while the rest of the English-speaking world calls them “(electric) torches”: Early flashlights ran on zinc–carbon batteries,

Downfalls and inheritances

DEMISE, n. This word showed up in one of the romance novels below (A Caribbean Heiress in Paris) in the sentence “If the duke only knew that his sons had been plotting his demise for weeks […]” In context, the duke’s sons are not plotting his death, but his downfall;

French literature

Roosters, horses, ginger, figs

COCKTAIL, n. I was at a bar with some friends and one of them said, “Where does the word ‘cocktail’ come from? No, don’t look it up—it can’t possibly be as good as what I’m imagining.” Telling me not to look up a word has never

people no less beautiful than you are

DEHISCENCE, n. This is a word for a ripe pod or fruit—or wound—splitting open. I had to look it up because it’s in one of the poems below. Etymologically, it’s a straight line back to Latin dehiscentia, which also means splitting open. From there, you can