SNECK
Wild Word Friday!
Snitch, snatched, have SNECK? I don’t think that would pass muster with most English teachers, but the words are related – not in the sense of tenses, but as “cousins,” descendants of the same Middle English word, snecchen or snacchen – to snatch or grab something. SNECK is a dialectical form that refers to the latch of a door (which grabs, you have to admit) , or the sound that a door latch makes. In the latter regard, SNECK is onomatopoeic – a word that imitates the sound it refers to.
SNECK lends itself to a couple of interesting but obscure usages. In a Scots dialect it shows up in the word, SNECKdraw and means a person who is slyly trying to worm his way in. I love that word – SNECKdraw! In Kendal, England, someone developed a fish hook and named it the Kendal SNECK Bent.
I’m thinking that I need to use the word SNECK to rename those metal hanger things that we use to attach decorations to our Christmas trees. How about that? A perfect one-word name for something most people refer to as ornament hangers. After all, it’s a lot easier to say SNECK. As in, “Could somebody please hand me a SNECK?”
Can you think of any other way to use the super little word SNECK? Do you have any made-up words of your own?
Blessings!
Sue
(Some information from Webster’s Third New International Dictionary Unabridged. Photos from Wikipedia.)
Perfect, Kathryn!! Sneck up your coat!!
I love that “Yiddish connection,” Hillari!
I knew and loved to use ‘snick’ (as in the sound of a door latch or ‘sneck’) but thank you for introducing me to Cousin Sneck!
Also thought it might have a Yiddish life, as in ‘grabbing a snack/morsel.’ I remember Nathan Lane’s line in ‘The Birdcage:’ “When the snecken beckons!” Perhaps via a Middle English/old German connection?
Great column, thanks for teaching me:D
My mommy reaction, “Sneck up your coat – I’m not a maid!” 🙂