The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #56949   Message #911179
Posted By: DeanC
16-Mar-03 - 08:36 AM
Thread Name: Obit: Jonathan Eberhart (18 Feb 2003)
Subject: RE: Obit: Jonathan Eberhart
"Sned!" Jonathan pointed and sort of sneered at me when I walked into the room. "Is there such a word as sned and what does it mean?" This was at an Indian Neck Folk Festival. Jonathan was surrounded by a group, as he often was, including Pete the Spy, Don Duncan and I'm not sure who else. They had been sitting around discussing the existence of sned. Nobody seemed to know although I think Pete had suggested that it might be the plural of some word in some Balkan language. I didn't know either, but I felt in some way honored that he had asked me because it meant that he at least thought I spoke the language well enough that I might know. That kind of faint praise from such a master of the language was good enough for me.
There being no OED at Camp Friedman, the question remained unanswered. Well, for the record, Jonathan, sned means "to lop off, as a branch."