Word of the day: tittuppy

Mr. Thorpe, do you really think that Mr. Morland’s gig will break down? From Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey (1818):

"Break down! Oh! Lord! Did you ever see such a little tittuppy thing in your life? There is not a sound piece of iron about it.”

And he goes on and on about the danger it presents. “Good heavens!” cries James Morland’s sister Catherine. And I am already imagining a Clueless-style adaptation, with James Morland driving a “ricketty” old compact, and John Thorpe, a shiny new SUV. “Ricketty” is another of Thorpe’s disses.

But the word of the day is the adjective tittuppy, also spelled tituppy and tittupy. The meaning is easy to guess: “characterized by bouncing movement; unsteady, shaky, rickety.”

The word’s origin is likely impossible to guess. Tittuppy comes from the noun or verb tittup. The noun first meant “a canter,” then “a cantering horse,” then “a woman or girl, spec. one who is bold or impudent.” The earliest meaning is now rare; the others, obsolete. As for the verb:

To walk or move with an up-and-down or jerky movement; to move in an exaggerated or affected manner. Also (of a horse, etc.) to move with short up-and-down strides in a prancing fashion; (of a rider) to guide a horse in this way. Usually with adverbial of direction.”

The verb is still in use. The Oxford English Dictionary has a 2003 citation: “A bizarre figure — is it a man or a woman? — tittups towards them.” Tittup also had life as an adverb — “with a tittup; at a canter” — also obsolete.

The dictionary’s first citation for tittuppy? Northanger Abbey! And the adjective is still in use; the most recent citation is from 1995.

Northanger Abbey is a wonderful novel. I’d describe it thusly: Catherine Morland, a reader of Gothic novels, finds herself a character in a Jane Austen novel. She must adapt.

Related reading
All OCA Jane Austen posts (Pinboard)

[All citations from the Oxford English Dictionary.]