Talk:fitch

I just heard on Says You that fitch means a brush made of the hair of a polecat.

RFV discussion: October–November 2022

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fitch

Rfv-sense: Alternative form of vetch, but OED only contains cites for this word in the plural, fitches. This, that and the other (talk) 03:14, 28 October 2022 (UTC)

Various "fitch" appearances in the singular in this 16th-century botanical: [1] (can't figure out much but "Italian Fitch or Goates Rue" is indeed a vetch) —Al-Muqanna المقنع (talk) 04:22, 28 October 2022 (UTC)

Galega officinalis is not really a vetch, though it's in the same family. That said, the word is definitely used to refer to vetches elsewhere in the work. A complication is that this, like the Bible, is a translation of a text written somewhere else about plants that may or may not be the same as the ones the English terms refer to. Chuck Entz (talk) 05:04, 28 October 2022 (UTC)

I added two cites, and Cotgrave also uses it in a definition here (I think this is a valid use because it's not a mere gloss "blanc : white", nor a usex). It's mentioned(?) in the index to this, although I can't find it in the work itself. google books:"bitter fitch" turns up various mentions, maybe there's a use in there somewhere. - -sche (discuss) 05:39, 28 October 2022 (UTC)

I have already encountered this word but I remember it to live in fossilized compound plant names, like the cited wild fitch, and I just found another one, hatchet fitch – case closed, I guess. Apparently the same sound change as with fixen → vixen that did not cover the West Country? Fay Freak (talk) 13:46, 28 October 2022 (UTC)

Stop trying to make fitch happen. - TheDaveRoss 13:58, 28 October 2022 (UTC)

@TheDaveRoss: I don’t recognize your possible joke. Is there any problem still? Otherwise I have added my quote and with three print quotes and as we know others I close this as cited. Fay Freak (talk) 14:02, 28 October 2022 (UTC)

@Fay Freak Sorry, 100% joke, please take the next two hours and watch Mean Girls so you get my joke. Or you can read an entry we apparently have make fetch happen. - TheDaveRoss 14:08, 28 October 2022 (UTC)

Let’s call this passed and leave it a week before archiving (though the header has already been struck out). --Overlordnat1 (talk) 03:47, 13 November 2022 (UTC)