I agree with Isamu as to commonality of knowledge (or not).
Personally I’ve never heard of: Chaplets, Decarnate, Faience, Farthingale, Gonfanon/Gonfalon, Hennin, Isocephaly, or Pycnic. “Morganatically” I’ve usually seen in the phrase “morganatic marriage” rather than as an adverb.
My thoughts exactly… until I checked out the etymology of both stump and stub…
Seems to “stump” one’s toe was common in 11th-15th centuries - which incidentally, is about the era that most of the words on the list sound like they came from too. Which I guess shows that reading can shape your vocabulary choices too. It’s also when the first french loanwords started appearing in English as well - and as someone noted above, a lot of the words are French origin and this is after the Norman invasion.
Ahhh - full circle calm…
Argent - from the Latin argentum, silver. I’d say it would be recognizable to anyone who took high school chemistry.
Caparisoned – Funny, I think I have seen this before. But it’s not common.
Cephalic - It was a common joke when I was growing up to refer to someone as “microcephalic” meaning stupid. Not very obscure.
Chaplets - Never heard it before.
Decarnate - It’s clear what it implies from its formation, but I’ve never seen it in the wild. “Incarnate” is fairly common.
Defenestrations - Another word that pretty much all smart-asses know. Long before the Defenestration of Prague, the Romans had use for such a term. They also had a word for biting somebody’s nose off, and vomiting in the company of others.
Discombobulated - Not commonly used, but well known. It’s used for comical effect.
Faience - Completely unfamiliar to me.
Farthingale - Never heard it before, though structures under dresses are often referred to as bustles.
Fringes - Quite common.
Gonfanon/Gonfalon - Unknown to me.
Hennin – I’ve seen the illustrations, but I didn’t know there was a name for it.
Isocephaly - Never seen it used, though if I had the context and etymology would have made it comprehensible.
Mettle - It would be considered fancy talk, but its meaning is commonly understood. But I’d say most people who understand it by ear don’t know how it’s spelled.
Morganatically - Unknown.
Ocellus - Students of Latin would quickly recognize this as a diminutive of oculus. Ocellus is a term of endearment in Latin.
Or - Yeah, did you mean ‘ore’?
Ostentation – Pretty common.
Pycnic – New to me.
Suppurate - Clearly Latinate, but my educated guess as to the back-formation (sub + pūrāre) was right, but my guess as to the emergent meaning was wrong. The prefix ‘sub-’ can be subtle that way.
Sutler - Not common, but it comes up in role-playing games.
Tassel - Quite common.
Tawny - Usually said of blonde people with tans. Quite common.
Vermilion - Not uncommon.
the very pink of - I don’t recall hearing it, but would likely be understood in context.
shrinking violet - Very common.
In American major league baseball, finishing in first place in your division or league has traditionally been referred to as “winning the pennant”. As this expression became trite, some announcers and sportswriters, casting about for a more colorful phrase, called it “claiming the gonfalon” instead.
A gonfalon, as you say, is a pennant hung from a horizontal pole. The expression is especially associated with New York broadcaster Red Barber. So that’s why, even as a child, I knew what a gonfalon was.
Argent - Fairly well known, provides chemical symbol for silver, name of Argentina
Caparisoned – Never heard of it
Cephalic - fairly obscure, but known from hydrocephaly etc
Chaplets - Never heard of it
Decarnate - Guessable, but don’t recall ever seeing it in wild
Defenestrations - Benefits of a classical education
Discombobulated - not uncommon
Faience - never heard of it
Farthingale - I’ve sen this word, but wouldn’t have been able to define it
Fringes - Common
Gonfanon/Gonfalon - Never heard of it
Hennin – Never heard of it
Isocephaly - Guessable
Mettle - reasonable common “test your mettle”
Morganatically - more usually heard in form “morganatic”
Ocellus - Should have known this but didn’t
Or - Most familiar from the Palme d’or award at Cannes
Ostentation – Common, mostly as “ostentatious”
Pycnic – Never heard of it
Suppurate - fairly common as “suppurating wound”
Sutler - Never heard of it
Tassel - common
Tawny - common “tawny owl”
Vermilion - fairly common
the very pink of - Not sure I’ve heard this, but guessable in context
shrinking violet - common
Interestingly enough, I was familiar with more than half the words, and like Ferret Herder, figured they came from heraldry. The last two (“in the pink” and “shrinking violet”) did not seem to be from heraldry, and both were familiar phrases.
I expect the following would be reasonably common:
Argent - something silvery or white, silvery white
Cephalic - 1. of or pertaining to the head. 2. situated or directed toward the head. (This would be commonly understood)
Defenestrations - throwing things out of a window. Actually a rather interesting word as it ties in to a specific historic incident. (A favourite infrequently used word)
Discombobulated - to confuse or disconcert; upset; frustrate: The speaker was completely discombobulated by the hecklers. (A favourite infrequently used word)
Fringes - a decorative border of thread, cord, or the like, usually hanging loosely from a raveled edge or separate strip. (Very common, also used of parties and groups).
Mettle - courage and fortitude: a man of mettle. (Very common)
Morganatically - of or pertaining to a form of marriage in which a person of high rank, as a member of the nobility, marries someone of lower station with the stipulation that neither the low-ranking spouse nor their children, if any, will have any claim to the titles or entailed property of the high-ranking partner. (Commonly understood)
Ostentation – 1.) pretentious or conspicuous show, as of wealth or importance; display intended to impress others. 2.) (archaic) the act of showing or exhibiting; display. (Very common)
Suppurate - to produce or discharge pus, as a wound; maturate. (Would be commonly understood, not common in use)
Tassel - a pendent ornament consisting commonly of a bunch of threads, small cords, or other strands hanging from a roundish knob or head, used on clothing, in jewelry, on curtains, etc. (Very common)
Tawny - of a dark yellowish or dull yellowish-brown color. (Very common, cf owls)
Vermilion - a brilliant scarlet red. (Very common)
‘In the (very) pink of’ is commonly used for health; I’ve never heard it used otherwise. And ‘Shrinking violet’ is a very common phrase.
More like old book. Books of ancient lore. I’m quite happy that my Danish is sometimes rather helpful in understanding old English – and especially the Danish dialect from Jutland where I’m originally from. For instance I just found out that “maw” in Middle English means “stomach”. In Danish it is “mave”, but in Jutland this is pronounced exactly as “maw”.
A word I’ve seen a couple of times now is “matrix”, for instance: “It is good in women’s bathes, for it mollifieth and openeth the matrix” – I think it means something naughty, but I’m not sure.
“maw” has further connotations in English, ie a “gaping maw” think Jaws, a relentless thing, with an endless stomach.
There are a LOT of intersting and obscure words out there. Heterodoxy. Roborant. Scrofula. Contumacious. If you dig with even a little effort, you can easily enough find current, valid English words that not one person in a hundred knows.
Shrug
Here’s my take on your list (I am not a linguist):
Argent - Current. Commen. Knew it.
Caparisoned – Obsolete, but still common. Knew it.
Cephalic - Current. Not real common, but not rare. Knew it.
Chaplets - Obsolete. Rare. Didn’t know it.
Decarnate - Current. Rare. Knew it.
Defenestrations - Current. Well-known but uncommon. Knew it.
Discombobulated - Current. Common. Knew it.
Faience - Current. Not common. Didn’t know it.
Farthingale - Obsolete. Rare. Didn’t know it.
Fringes - Current. Common. Knew it.
Gonfanon/Gonfalon - Obsolete. Rare. Didn’t know it.
Hennin – Obsolete. Uncommon. Didn’t know it.
Isocephaly - Current. Obscure. Knew it.
Mettle - Current. Common. Knew it.
Morganatically - Current. Obscure. Knew it.
Ocellus - Current. Obscure. Didn’t know it.
Or - Obsolescent, but still in use. Rare. Knew it.
Ostentation – Current. Common. Knew it.
Pycnic – Current. Obscure. Didn’t know it.
Suppurate - Current. Common. Knew it.
Sutler - Obsolescent, but still in use. Uncommon. Knew it.
Tassel - Current. Common. Knew it.
Tawny - Current. Common. Knew it.
Vermilion - Current. Fairly common. Knew it.
“The very pink of” - More often, I hear “In the pink.”
“Shrinking violet” - Common enough.
I’m trying to do the opposite, to avoid obsolete words, or only supply an explanation for words which are rarely known. But scratch the matrix. I just found out it means womb. Which gives a whole new meaning to the movie that was popular a few years back.
Thanks for the list.
I either knew or could easily figure out all of them except gonfanon/gonfalon, pycnic, and sutler, but I am both geeky and a librarian.
I would expect almost any native English speaker to know fringes, tassel, and maybe tawny. A reasonably well-read person would also know argent, discombobulated, mettle, ostentation, and vermilion. Maybe or too. Cephalic and decarnate would be pretty easy to figure out, but they are not common themselves. (I don’t think I’ve ever seen “decarnate” before.)
Defenestration is for some reason fairly well-known as an “obscure” vocabulary word. I’ve rarely if ever encountered it in context, but I’ve known several people who would proudly announce that they knew what defenestration meant.
The other words from your list would probably only be known to people with some special interest in history or art, or alternately by people who read a lot of fantasy novels. Oh, and morganatically seems awkward to me; if I had reason to use this term I would write something like “entered a morganatic marriage with”.
“The very pink of” and “shrinking violet” are fairly well-known but old-fashioned.
I’m not especially well-read, but I know French, which probably helped me with many of those words. The ones I didn’t recognize (and there are several others that I knew the approximate meaning of, but probably couldn’t give an exact definition for)
Farthingale
Gonfanon/Gonfalon
Pycnic
Sutler
yes - discombobulated, fringes
above average - mettle, ostentation, tawny, vermilion.
meh - cephalic, defenestration, faience (very borderline, have only seen it in reference to a certain type of Egyptian antiquity).
no - for everything else