The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the Coronavirus crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored…..
Arsy Yarsey
This rather lovely little term used in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries simply means to fall head over heels, deriving from arsy-versy used from as early as the sixteenth century which had a wider meaning of topsy turvy or back to front. I’m not sure that this term ever appeared much in print, I’m guessing that it was used more in the vernacular.