Wondrous Words Wednesday
Wondrous Words Wednesday is hosted by Bermudaonion’s Weblog. Kathy says: “Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading.”
Rick Steves’ Ireland has a sidebar on castle architecture with a diagram and definitions. These are the words from the list that are either entirely new or that I didn’t fully understand. All the definitions are from Rick Steves’ Ireland.
Castle Architecture, pages 406 and 407.
The Keep (or Donjon): A high, strong stone tower in the center of the castle complex that was the lord’s home and refuge of last resort.
Hoardings (or Gallery or Brattice): Wooden huts built onto the upper parts of the stone walls. They served as watch towers, living quarters, and fighting platforms.
Machicolation: A stone ledge jutting out from the wall, fitted with holes in the bottom. If the enemy was scaling the walls, soldiers could drop rocks or boiling oil down through the holes and onto the enemy below.
Barbican: A fortified gatehouse, sometimes a stand-alone building located outside the main walls.
Postern Gate: a small, unfortified side or rear entrance used during peacetime. In wartime, it would become a “sally-port” used to launch surprise attacks, or as an escape route.
I’ve heard the Keep used before but couldn’t have defined it. I know next to nothing about castles.
Awesome list! Interestingly, I’d either heard the word and didn’t know what it meant, or seen the castle feature but didn’t know what it was called, in every single case here, so I learned quite a bit. Thanks!
Most of your words were new to me. I like that all the references are to Ireland – a place I’d love to see.
Hello Joy,
Thanks for visiting Fiction Books this week, it was great to read your comments.
We have so many castles, here in the UK, including down South which is where I live, that I knew of most of your words this week.
‘hoardings’ however, is a new one to me, although I quite like the idea of their alternative name of ‘brattice’, which you also highlighted, it sounds a little more ‘up market’ somehow!
Have a great reading week.
Castle words are great. I knew keep, and have heard of hoardings, but didn’t know what they were.
Keep, hoardings and barbican weren’t new to me, but the others were. Used to go walk the dog near Framlingham castle and Orford castle, both Motte and Bailey arrangements.
I do miss castles.
Those are terrific castles, Ali! Yep, we don’t have places like that to walk in St. Louis.
Rob and I just watched a movie in which machilocations were used. Now we have the word for that. Thanks!
Machicolation is a new word to me. Hoardings I have heard of before but it was used in a totally different context.
So many words…wonderful words! I wanna go to Ireland even more now
Thank you for sharing.