selcouth

English

WOTD – 4 January 2010

Etymology

From Middle English selcouth, from Old English selcūþ, seldcūþ (“unusual, unwonted, little known, unfamiliar, novel, rare”), from seld- (“rarely”) + cūþ (“known”); equivalent to seld +‎ couth.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛlˈkuːθ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Adjective

selcouth (comparative more selcouth, superlative most selcouth)

1. (now rare) Strange, unusual, rare; unfamiliar; marvellous, wondrous.
   • 1814, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, Reprint edition, Penguin, published 2000, →ISBN, page 244:

     'A selcouth novelty,' muttered the knight, 'to advance to storm such a castle without pennon or banner displayed.'

   • 2002, Edward Cline, Sparrowhawk II: Hugh Kenrick‎^[1], Digitized edition (Fiction), MacAdam/Cage Pub., published 2011, →ISBN, page 318:

     The statements in either document are unique and selcouth.

   • 2007, Mark Youngblood Herring, “Caught in the Web”, in Fool's Gold: Why the Internet is no Substitute for a Library‎^[2], McFarland, →ISBN, page 37:

     Left to its own devices and without the Web as a vehicle for misinforming others, the selcouth dogmas that forbade sexual relations ...

Synonyms

• (strange): bizarre, odd, weird; see also Thesaurus:strange
• (rare): infrequent, scarce, uncommon; see also Thesaurus:rare
• (wondrous): amazing, magnificent, stupendous; see also Thesaurus:awesome

Translations

strange, rare, marvellous

• Finnish: erikoinen (fi), omituinen (fi)
• French: merveilleux (fr), étrange (fr), miraculeux (fr)
• Italian: meraviglioso (it)
• Spanish: maravilloso (es), extraño (es), portentoso (es), asombroso (es)
• Swedish: egendomlig (sv), vidunderlig (sv), besynnerlig (sv)