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Friday 24 November 2017

Word To Use Today: seawan or seawant.

The opposite of seawan is peag.

Isn't that wonderful? Even without the foggiest idea what it means the phrase has a mysterious resonance.

The opposite of seawan is peag.

Seawan...that might mean anything from the pallor of a drowned child to the mysterious shadows that bloom in sea-glass.

Sadly, I feel that some of you are expecting me to explain away that splendid and infinite ignorance... 

...so perhaps those of you who are enchanted by the mystery of seawan and peag should look away now.

***

Seawan are beads made of polished shells. They have to be loose, not strung (the strung ones are called peag). They've been used as currency by Native Americans - and, yes, the same sort of thing is more often known as wampam.

So have I spoiled it? 

Was ignorance actually bliss?

I'm afraid that in this case it was.

Word To Use Today: seawan or seawant. This word comes from the Munsee (or some say Narragansett) word seawohn, which means scattered or loose.



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