3607 🏆 COURIL

[Paul Keating]

The winner of this round is Debbie Embler, whose brass playing technique (which exists, but I know it as cuivré) went into an early lead, and ended with a natural score of 5. Efrem Mallach was runner-up with 3 + 2 = 5*. 

Four players guessed that the ‘real’ definition in this round was #6, the Breton fairies reputed to delight in beguiling young girls. 

I took the definition from Century (1889–91) for its style, and because the OED (in Burchfield’s 1972 supplement) cited Century as its source. I could find no support for the word elsewhere. The OED does have a citation from 1924, but that gives little indication of sense, and is capitalized, indicating that the author considered it a proper noun.

Couril is a real word: it is one of a dozen synonyms or near-synonyms in Breton for korrigan, which is variously glossed as ‘elf’, ‘fairy’, ‘gnome’, ‘one of the little people’, etc. But, though real, it is a Breton word: I don’t believe that it was ever used in English. Its presence in Century does not imply otherwise, because the scope of that work was deliberately and successfully encyclopedic. Its presence in Burchfield’s supplement does imply otherwise; and I take leave to doubt that, for lack of convincing evidence.

Hugo’s vote message made me realize that Century’s definition can be read in two senses: do the fairies delight in the beguilement of young girls; or, do they, like mortals, delight in young girls who are beguiling? And would you go along with my notion that the girls in the second group aren’t quite so young as the ones in the first group?

Now, ambiguity in a dictionary definition is close to unpardonable. But I looked further, and it seems that the adjectival sense of beguiling (second group) is a largely 20th-century usage. 

Google Ngram Viewer tells me that the adjective beguiling began to overtake its parent verb beguile in frequency in the 1970s. It is of course necessary to distinguish adjectives from present participles (beguiling their time) and verbal nouns (enchantments and beguilings), which even sophisticated part-of-speech taggers cannot do with 100% accuracy. Still, the Ngram timeline is illuminating.  

So Century’s editors might have considered my second interpretation contrived, wrong, or not so much wrong as silly. It’s sobering to think that, after only three generations, we cannot always confidently say exactly how a definition would have been interpreted when it was written.

1	A roadway lane marking.
	No votes
	Submitted by: Tony Abell, who voted for 2, 11.
2	An introduction or preface to an epic poem or tale.
	Votes from Tony Abell, Tim Bourne
	Submitted by: Mike Shefler, who voted for 10, 12. Score: 2.
3	A medieval heraldic symbol depicting an eagle without beak or talons.
	No votes
	Submitted by: Glenn Davis, who voted for 8, 10.
4	A geometric motif found in mosaics, symbolizing balance between earth and sky.
	Votes from Debbie Embler, Dan Widdis
	Submitted by: Judy Madnick, who voted for 7, 13. Score: 2.
5	A grey and brown striped mouse found in Mediterranean coastlands of northern Africa.
	Votes from Eric Boxer, Tim Lodge
	Submitted by: Johnny Barrs, who voted for 6, 13. Score: 2+2=4*.
6	In Brittany, one of the tiny fairies reputed to frequent druidical remains and to delight in beguiling young girls.
	Votes from Johnny Barrs, Hugo Kornelis, Efrem Mallach, Shani Naylor
	Real Definition, from Century. Score: D4.
7	A small brass bell traditionally mounted above the entrance of English alehouses, rung to announce the tapping of a fresh cask or the arrival of a new batch of ale.
	Votes from Debbie Embler, Judy Madnick
	Submitted by: Dan Widdis, who voted for 4, 10. Score: 2.
8	The covering of balls used in real tennis (also known as royal or court tennis), which is made of a heavy, woven, woollen material and has to be replaced frequently on the cork cores.
	Vote from Glenn Davis
	Submitted by: Tim Lodge, who voted for 5, 11. Score: 1.
9	Brand name for a drug that causes an increase in the production of urine, used to treat conditions in which liquid collects in body tissues between the cells.
	No votes
	Submitted by: Hugo Kornelis, who voted for 6, 10. Score: 0+2=2*.
10	Brassy. Used almost exclusively as a French horn technique to indicate a forced, rough tone.
	Votes from Eric Boxer, Glenn Davis, Hugo Kornelis, Shani Naylor, Mike Shefler, Dan Widdis
	Submitted by: Debbie Embler, who voted for 4, 7. Score: 6.
11	Geol. A ridge with a steep drop on one side and a gentle slope on the other.
	Votes from Tony Abell, Tim Bourne, Tim Lodge
	Submitted by: Efrem Mallach, who voted for 6, 13. Score: 3+2=5*.
12	A dance step formerly much used; a sort of bow or salutation in dancing.
	Vote from Mike Shefler
	Submitted by: Nancy Shepherdson, who did not vote. Score: 1.
13	A narrow, pointed blade of grass; hence, a similarly-shaped dagger.
	Votes from Johnny Barrs, Judy Madnick, Efrem Mallach
	Submitted by: Eric Boxer, who voted for 5, 10. Score: 3.
14	A citizen by birthright.
	No votes
	Submitted by: Shani Naylor, who voted for 6, 10. Score: 0+2=2*.
	No definition from Tim Bourne, who voted for 2, 11.

Def no	Player	Voted for	Votes from	Score from votes	Correct guess	Total
10	Embler	4, 7	Boxer, Davis, Kornelis, Naylor, Shefler, Widdis	6		6
11	Mallach	6, 13	Abell, Bourne, Lodge	3	2	5*
5	Barrs	6, 13	Boxer, Lodge	2	2	4*
13	Boxer	5, 10	Barrs, Madnick, Mallach	3		3
2	Shefler	10, 12	Abell, Bourne	2		2
7	Widdis	4, 10	Embler, Madnick	2		2
4	Madnick	7, 13	Embler, Widdis	2		2
14	Naylor	6, 10			2	2*
9	Kornelis	6, 10			2	2*
8	Lodge	5, 11	Davis	1		1
12	Shepherdson	DQ	Shefler	1		1
3	Davis	8, 10				0
No definition	Bourne	2, 11				0
1	Abell	2, 11				0

--

Paul Keating

Soustons, Nouvelle Aquitaine, France

[Paul Keating]

The opening paragraph of the announcement should be

The winner of this round is Debbie Embler, whose brass playing technique (which exists, but I know it as cuivré) went into an early lead, and ended with a natural score of 6. Efrem Mallach was runner-up with 3 + 2 = 5*. 

Apologies for the finger trouble. The score table is correct.