noun
a small three-legged table or stand.
Teapoy “a small three-legged table or stand” is adapted from Hindi ī徱, with a spelling change likely because of the association with tea. Hindi ī徱, however, is not related to tea; instead, ī徱 comes from Persian ⲹ “three-legged stand.” The phonetic change from Persian s to Hindi t is due to a replacement of the Persian word for “three” with its Hindi cognate ī, while the instrument sitar “a lute with a small, pear-shaped body” preserves this Persian numeral. ⲹ is a compound of Persian ŧ “three” and “foot,” which are distant relatives of English three and foot, Latin ٰŧ and ŧ, Ancient Greek ٰî and ú, and Sanskrit ٰí and á. Teapoy was first recorded in English in the 1820s.
There was a small wooden teapoy near the sofa, with an embroidered cross stitch tablecloth on it, with designs of Mistress Mary, quite contrary, watering her flowerbeds. Naomi had done it for her craft class in the ninth standard. A beautiful crystal vase, filled with wilting red roses stood on the teapoy. There were faded yellow half-curtains for the windows strung on taut springs. But the windows were shut.
noun
a reward, recompense, or requital.
Guerdon “a reward, recompense, or requital” is a variation of Old French werdoun, continuing a trend in which the w in Germanic-origin borrowings often becomes gu when adapted into French and other Romance languages. For other examples, compare the cognate pairs ward and guard, warranty and guarantee, and William and Guillaume. Old French werdoun comes from Medieval Latin widerdonum, which in turn was adapted from Old High German ɾ岹ō, with a phonetic change from l to d because of the influence of Latin ōԳܳ “gڳ.” ¾岹ō is a compound of widar “again, back” (which survives today in the German expression auf Wiedersehen “until we meet again”) and ō “reward” (cognate to Latin lucrum “gain, profit,” as in English lucrative). Guerdon was first recorded in English in the mid-14th century.
a Cannes Film Festival. It has been an unruly jungle. Unruly and luxuriant. The movies have climbed over each other in excellence, every new one transcending the last as it reaches towards that gilded guerdon, that light-giving cynosure of legendary tree-forms, the Palme d’Or.
BIRON. When tongues speak sweetly, then they name her name, And Rosaline they call her: ask for her; And to her white hand see thou do commend This seal’d-up counsel. There’s thy guerdon; go.
[giving [Costard] a shilling]
plural noun
scattered members; disjointed portions or parts.
Disjecta membra “disjointed portions or parts” is a term from Latin that is altered from the phrase 徱ī membra ŧٲ “limbs of a dismembered poet,” which appears in the writings of Horace (known to his Roman contemporaries as Quintus Horatius Flaccus). The reason for the spelling change is simple grammar: in the original Latin, the possessive adjective 徱ī “dismembered” matches the possessive noun ŧٲ “of a poet.” The endings are different because ŧٲ is irregular; though it looks feminine with its -ae ending, it is in fact a masculine noun. With ŧٲ removed from the phrase, 徱ī changes to match the neuter subject noun membra, becoming disjecta. Even in modern Spanish, the feminine-looking noun poeta “poet” is still masculine, and typical masculine -o adjectives modify it. Disjecta membra was first recorded in English in the early 18th century.
One gets the notion that these boys are starting again from the beginning, with the separate tone and the separate sonority. Notes are strewn about like disjecta membra; there is an end to continuity in the old sense and an end of thematic relationships. In this music one waits to hear what will happen next without the slightest idea what will happen, or why what happened did happen once it has happened.
As she led the way westward past a long line of areas which, through the distortion of their paintless rails, revealed with increasing candour the disjecta membra of bygone dinners, Lily felt that Rosedale was taking contemptuous note of the neighbourhood; and before the doorstep at which she finally paused he looked up with an air of incredulous disgust.