Don’t be swerk, we’ve found some long lost words to awhape you

HAVE you been betrumped by a losenger? Or perhaps you’ve been left fumish by a rouzybouzy nickum.

This looks like gibberish – but all of these terms are English words which were once familiar but have long slipped out of use.

To ‘betrump’ has nothing to do with the current occupant of the White House but instead means to deceive or cheat, while ‘losenger’ does not mean seller of cough sweets but false flatterer or lying rascal.

Meanwhile ‘fumish’ means hot-tempered, ‘rouzy-bouzy’ is a colourful term for being boisterously drunk, and a ‘nickum’ is a cheat. They are among a list of curious- sounding terms selected by language experts at the University of York as being ripe for revival.

Working with insurer Privilege, Dominic Watt and his research team spent three months scouring historical texts and etymological dictionaries to create the list.

They are grouped into themes which Dr Watt believes to be highly relevant to modern life: post-truth (deception), appearance, personality and behaviour, and emotions.

As part of the ‘ Lost Words Campaign’, Privilege is inviting the public to vote for their favourite words to bring back to everyday English. Dr Watt, senior lecturer in language and linguistic science, said: ‘ We were intrigued by the challenge of developing a list of lost words that are still relevant to modern life, and that we could potentially campaign to bring back into modern- day language.’ Christian Mendes, head of Privilege home insurance, explained: ‘Research like this is important, and it highlights the constantlyevolving nature of the English language, with as many words entering as leaving.’

You can vote on Twitter via @ PrivilegeUK or at: www.tinyurl. com/PrivilegeLostWords. The winning word will be chosen in a month, and the academics will be writing to experts at the Oxford English Dictionary in an attempt to persuade them to reintroduce it.

‘Evolving nature of English’