With its connotation of gossiper, this archaic word for grandmother has earned the “low” tag. It is the feminine counterpart to “gaffer”, but The Hobbit does not use that word. Instead, in this instance “gammer” is paired with “greybeards”
“gammer, n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 20 May 2015.
While we contemplate this regional word for meadow, let’s enjoy some fermented honey and water. Mead the drink is discussed here and the honey comes from flowers, which meadows certainly have! It’s a low word… in a poem sung by elves. Fascinating.
“mead, n.2.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 20 May 2015.
I am learning humility.
The word “delve” is labelled by the OED as northern and Scottish – and right up against Wales, one source says it is specifically to dig two spades deep. Clearly that’s a regional, parochial word, one which I should by my own arbitrary rule tag as “low”. It’s also in the middle of a rather high-register poem in a position rhyming with “elves”, which by any first approximation should make it be tagged “high”. I have tagged it both.
“delve, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 20 May 2015.
words that you were saying 