Today, I'm writing a scene, in which one of my characters uses some harsh late-Victorian language. This, of course, lead me to the Oxford English Dictionary, where I was able to make and study a list of words that came into use during the 1890s, but have since become obsolete. Many of those words were related to science, so I did quite a bit of sorting before I developed a manageable list. From there, I was able to narrow it down to the top 30 words that capture the spirit of 1890s London.
- crinanthropist n. a person who judges or criticizes other people.
- herohead, n. The quality or condition of being a hero or demigod.
- jobble, v. To move unevenly like a choppy sea.
- mancinism, n. The state or condition of having a bias in some way towards the left-hand side of the body.
- melomany, n. Enthusiasm or obsessive passion for music.
- mentism, n. Disruption of rational thought by overwhelming emotion or vivid imagination.
- mentulate, adj. Having a (large) penis.
- mogiphonia, n. Difficulty in producing loud vocal sounds, as in public speaking or singing, attributed to overuse of the voice.
- momiology, n. The scientific study of mummies.
- morningly, adj. Occurring every morning.
- morphiated, adj. Containing morphia; drugged with morphia.
- moting, n. v. Mechanical, self-propelled movement of a vehicle.
- muckerdom, n. Townspeople, as opposed to college students; the world of such people.
- mythometer, n. A supposed system or standard for judging myths.
- nanity, n. The condition of being abnormally deficient or underdeveloped in a particular characteristic.
- ne’er-do-wellish, n. The worthless, disreputable people as a class.
- neighbourize, v. To associate with others as neighbours; to act in a neighbourly fashion.
- omnivorosity, n. A kind of enthusiastic wide-eyed curiousity; a combination of omnivorous and voracious.. eg.: "With the omnivorosity of youth I eagerly devoured them."
- opiism, n. The intoxicated state induced by taking opium; the habit of taking opium for the purpose of intoxication.
- origines, n. The original facts or documents on which a historical or other work is based.
- pekoe, v. To blend with pekoe tea.
- pennoncier, n. A knight bachelor.
- philobiblical, adj. Devoted to literature.
- philo-sophistry, n. Love of or inclination towards sophistry.
- pigfully, adv. In a manner befitting a pig.
- plutogogy, n. Rule by the wealthy and their apologists.
- poplocracy, n. Popular rule; government by the people.
- proverbiologist, n. A person who studies proverbs.
- pseudo-archaist, n. A person who invents or uses artificial archaisms, esp. in language.
- repressful, adj. Apt to repress something; repressive.
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