Felicia Davin
  • Books
  • Word Suitcase
  • Contact
  • About me
Sign in Subscribe

poetry

A collection of 5 posts
a sloped cobblestone alley with red brick buildings
US history

Corcas

etymological mysteries and romance novels
15 Dec 2024 6 min read

Shedding some light

TORCH, n., FLASHLIGHT, n. I recently had to look up, for novel research, when handheld battery-powered lights were invented (1899). Wikipedia revealed why US and Canadian English speakers call these things “flashlights” while the rest of the English-speaking world calls them “(electric) torches”: Early flashlights ran on zinc–carbon batteries,
07 Jul 2024 6 min read

Downfalls and inheritances

DEMISE, n. This word showed up in one of the romance novels below (A Caribbean Heiress in Paris) in the sentence “If the duke only knew that his sons had been plotting his demise for weeks […]” In context, the duke’s sons are not plotting his death, but his downfall;
17 Mar 2024 8 min read
French literature

Roosters, horses, ginger, figs

COCKTAIL, n. I was at a bar with some friends and one of them said, “Where does the word ‘cocktail’ come from? No, don’t look it up—it can’t possibly be as good as what I’m imagining.” Telling me not to look up a word has never
10 Dec 2023 7 min read

people no less beautiful than you are

DEHISCENCE, n. This is a word for a ripe pod or fruit—or wound—splitting open. I had to look it up because it’s in one of the poems below. Etymologically, it’s a straight line back to Latin dehiscentia, which also means splitting open. From there, you can
29 Oct 2023 4 min read
Page 1 of 1
Felicia Davin © 2025
  • Sign up
Powered by Ghost