[Fictionary] Lierne Answers

[David Randall]

Nicolas ties the Dictionary, and so wins!

I got the word from Patrick Leigh Fermor's A Time of Gifts, the wonderfully written first volume of his memoir of walking across Europe in 1933 and 1934. He has an enormous vocabulary; "lierne" appears. I recommend the memoir to all, and its sequel, Between the Woods and the Water.

David
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Linda

lierne - n. (fr. German) -  a ditch on the side of the road.

Ranjit (2)

Ranjit: Too boring to be made up!

Nicolas: This feels more French than German, but I suppose there's some exchange near the Rhine?

Pierre: The state claims right-of-way from back of ditch to back of ditch. I've never heard of it being called a lierne.

John Joseph: This so does not look like a German word.  But maybe you're just being tricky...

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John Joseph

lierne - n. - an urn used at a crematorium as a repository for miscellaneous ash leavings, to be buried in a grave with a fictional name when full.

Ranjit (1) + Pierre (1) + Correct Guess (2)

Ranjit: Moskowitz-Afflatus Award (which comes with a certificate, a small trophy (ironically, in the shape of an urn) and 1 pt.

Nicolas: I think I bought this up until the fictional name.

Linda: Creepy that there would be leavings rather than the full body amount. My sister's ashes were strewn here and there, with most near her kids in CA, some in my garden, some in my cousin's garden, and some in childhood haunts.  

John Joseph: Trying to channel my inner Elliott here.

Elliott: They must have some way of disposing of these, but I'd expect the operators to just scatter them in some appropriate spot.  Honorable mention for ingenuity.
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Dictionary

lierne - n. (fr. Middle French, probably from lier to bind, from Latin ligare) - a rib in Gothic vaulting that passes from one intersection of the principal ribs to another.

Nicolas (2) + Pierre (2) + John Joseph (2) + Hutch (1) + Elliott (1)

Nicolas: I'm a sucker for architecture. 2 points.

Linda: I figure that of our group, YOU know the most about the Gothic period, but I don't like being blinded by science. 

Pierre: Two points for being most plausible.

Elliott: Only moderately implausible, so one point.
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Pierre

lierne - n. - a tree, Pouteria dahomensis, whose wood is used for building boats in West Africa.

Nicolas (1) + John Joseph (1) + Correct Guess (2)

Nicolas: Hmm, two West African defs in a row? Could be. 1 point.

Linda: This is probably it, but is a foreign word considered English? Or are we limited to English????
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Nicolas

lierne - n. - in astronomy, the repeated observation of an object each sidereal day. Named for Jean Liérne, an assistant to Charles Messier.

Hutch (2) + Linda (2) + Elliott (2) + Correct Guess (2)

Nicolas: Mine, will probably not fool anyone.

Linda:  2 points because I was once an astrology buff. 

Pierre: 'é' isn't valid in French there.

John Joseph: Needing to come up with some reason to reject a definition, I think a name like that would have an accent grave rather than an accent aigu.  But I could be wrong.

Elliott: Why not?  Two points.

Me, David: I am impressed with the knowledge of French accents in this group!
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Ranjit

lierne - n. - the seemingly shaky but highly controlled stroke of the Avignon School was known as the "lierne", after the park where they would gather to draw and argue.

Linda (1)

Nicolas: Believable, but out of points.

Linda:  I am an artist, but I know little about art history, so the Avignon School could be legitimate.  1 point.

Pierre: Draw what? What kind of stroke?

John Joseph: "stroke"?  I do not understand.  What is "stroke"?

Elliott: School of drawing, or school of fencing?
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