I came across bespoke  in one of the Mary Stewart books about Merlin. On his
wanderings about England he would send ahead to have rooms bespoken for him
at inns.

On another list a Swedish writer was pretty sure that "befrain" was an
English word but couldn't find it in dictionary and was asking if anybody
knew the definition. The best we could come up with were:

befrain: (n) what happens after cows evaporate.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Smithson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 7:17 AM
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] OT: Speaking of translations...


> In article <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask]
> says...
>
>> Yes, that's true, if you're in North America. "Bespoke," although
>> archaic,
>> has the same meaning as "spoken for", as in "the girl I intend on
>> marrying." But
>> on the other side of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, "bespoke" has come to mean
>> "customized" for some odd reason.
>>
>
> This quote below is from your side of the atlantic.  I'm pretty sure the
> origins are from taylors in the UK too.
>
>>From http://www.abc.net.au/classic/breakfast/index/2003_02_full.htm
> Bespoke  Tuesday 4
>
> Kel Richards writes
>
> This is now a word that has fallen almost completely out of use.
> However, in old books you'll come across the occasional reference to a
> bespoke tailor - which is an odd looking locution, so what does it mean,
> and where does it come from? Bespoke is still found in most dictionaries
> in the sense of "goods made to order, to the customer's specifications,
> as opposed to ready-made goods (especially suits, jackets, etc.)"
> Bespoke comes from the old verb "to bespeak" which came to mean "to
> speak of, to tell of, to give outward expression of, to give evidence
> of" - as in "his very countenance and expression bespeaks an unhappy
> man". The verb "to bespeak" could also mean "to ask, or to request, or
> to engaged to do something". From this, to say that something was
> bespoken was to say that it was promised.
>
> "May I borrow that book when you've finished reading it?"
> "No, it's already bespoken to someone else."
> (That is, promised to someone else.)
>
> So "bespoke" and "promise" are virtually synonymous. And this is where
> the tailor comes in. He takes your measurements and your order, and
> promises to make up the suit according to your instructions. This is
> what makes him a "bespoke tailor".
>
> --
> http://www.beluga.freeserve.co.uk
>
> * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
> * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *