DIALECT AND WORD MEANINGS

[Stanley]

Here's a funny word.... 'FRAUGHT'
So I looked it up....
late Middle English, ‘laden, equipped’, past participle of obsolete fraught ‘load with cargo’, from Middle Dutch vrachten, from vracht ‘ship's cargo’. Compare with freight.

[Tizer]

Cathy has posted a joke with the words `trap doors'. The word trap is also used by geologists to refer to massive, solidified lava flows which have occurred repeatedly in the same place over long time periods. It results in a stepped rock formation and was first named by Swedish geologist whose word for stairs is `trapp'. One of the biggest formations is the Deccan Traps in India. Wikipedia

[Stanley]

I've heard the term referring to the rock formation but never knew the origin. Thanks Peter.....

[Stanley]

'TARRY' attracted me so I went for a furtle....
The verb "to tarry" means to delay or linger, originating from Middle English tarien and terien, which meant "to vex, harass, cause to hesitate, delay". These Middle English words likely came from Old English tirian, tirgan, or tergan ("to worry, provoke") and ultimately trace back to the Proto-Germanic "terganą" or "targijaną" ("to pull, tease, irritate") and the Proto-Indo-European "derHgʰ-" root. The adjective "tarry" means "consisting of or like tar" and comes from the noun "tar" plus the suffix "-y"

[Cathy]

That was a tricky one to read, a bit of a tongue twister

[Stanley]

I think they are struggling a bit with the origin Cathy. It all seems a bit tenuous to me....

[Tripps]

Knee jerk instant reaction, takes me to one of Aunty Josie's poems.

“To bed! To bed!”
Says Sleepy-head;
“Tarry awhile,” says Slow;
“Put on the pan,”
Says Greedy Nan*;
“We’ll sup before we go.”

Could the word be connected in some way with the French 'tard' meaning late? It's as credible as the "proto Germanic".

[Stanley]

I think you have a much more plausible shot at the origin David. The thing that triggered me was the song 'Let him go, let him tarry let him sink or let him swim....' and when I was furtling I was surprised to find that it is an Irish folk song.