mulet/mullet and kankedort

[Jonathan Lighter]

My hunch is that Garson is rcorrect.

"Mulct" used to be a fairly common word in formal contexts.

(Crazy thought: could the recent claim that "moist" is unbearably creepy
have started out referring to "mulct"?  Which is now so unfamiliar as to
result in a mishearing and repolacement by "moist"?  I can remember a
couple of us in high school remarking on the weird look and sound of
"mulct," back in the days when "moist' was blameless.

(Well, we'll never know.  I just learned that if Mt. Rainier ever erupts
big-time, as some day it evidently must, it's probably curtains for Tacoma.
That puts it all into perspective for me.)

JL


On Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 2:07 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: mulet/mullet and kankedort
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 1:46 PM, Luanne von Schneidemesser
> <lvonschn at wisc.edu> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Luanne von Schneidemesser <lvonschn at WISC.EDU>
> > Subject:      mulet/mullet and kankedort
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Can anyone help on the following request, from a WI historian/writer?
> > We aren't finding any helpful information at DARE.
> >
> >   Do you know the word "mulet"?  I'm reading an account of an incident
> > in a Wisconsin logging camp from around 1873 and the following sentence
> > occurs:
> >
> > "The mission of the newcomers was usually to mulet (sic) the gullible
> > woodsman in one way or another."
>
> Is it possible that the word is mulct? Perhaps the letter c was
> printed imperfectly.
>
> http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mulct
>
> mulct  (mlkt)
> n.
> A penalty such as a fine.
> tr.v. mulct·ed, mulct·ing, mulcts
> 1. To penalize by fining or demanding forfeiture.
> 2. To acquire by trickery or deception.
> 3. To defraud or swindle.
> [From Middle English multen, to fine, from Latin multre, mulctre, from
> mulcta, fine.]
>
> Garson
>
> >
> > And the husband (a botanist) of a friend would like to know more about
> > "kankedort".  It seems that it isn't /Obs. /as the OED implies. He's
> > aware of the basics that come up on a google search, like
> > http://www.kankedort.net/about.htm.
> > He writes:
> >
> > About the only references we can find are from people researching the
> > meaning of the word (beginning with Chaucer?).  It seems like no one
> > really knows what it means, there is a lot of speculation, but no
> > certainty.  If you want a recent reference, the word has been used in
> > the title of a recent paper, in Madroño (a journal of Western North
> > American Botany), Vol. 58(4) 267--272. 2011, by Genevieve K. Walden
> > (grad student here) and R. Patterson.
> >
> > Here's the title page info for the article:
> > NOMENCLATURAL KANKEDORTS IN PHACELIA
> > (BORAGINACEAE: HYDROPHYLLOIDEAE)
> > GENEVIEVE K. WALDEN AND ROBERT PATTERSON
> > Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway
> Avenue,
> > San Francisco, CA 94132
> >
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Luanne
> >
> > --
> > Luanne von Schneidemesser
> > Senior Editor/Distinguished Scientist
> > /Dictionary of American Regional English/
> > 608 265-0532
> > http://dare.wisc.edu
> > http://dare.news.wisc.edu/
> >
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>
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